The Calamity of the Sorceress
by Kyrrlatur
Summary: Major AU. Some humor, as well. What if, instead of Kyuubi, Jenova and Ultimecia were sealed within Naruto? What if they were good? Yet he was still regarded as the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi? Shounen-ai/yaoi. Eventual Zabuza/Naruto pairing. Godlike Naruto
1. Prologue

"Talking"

_"Thinking/Talking in the Lifestream"_

**"Technique/Spell/Jutsu"**

Disclaimer: I do not own Jenova, Ultimecia, Naruto, or the Final Fantasy Franchise. They belong to their respective owners.

* * *

Time

Time.

Time was fleeting. Time was unstoppable. Time was evasive, never holding still.

Ultimecia was caught within her own Time Compression, her body frozen into a Stop-like state, her thoughts moving at a sluggish pace while she tried to figure out where she had gone wrong.

"_I prepared the spell correctly… I fought off my attackers…I cast the spell… Where did I slip? Was it never meant to be, to control time to that extent? To obliterate all reality by compressing an eternity into an instant? I don't…understand…" _

Ultimecia, Grand Sorceress, age 26. Manipulator of Time and Space. She had sent her consciousness back through time to possess Edea, Rinoa, and Adel at different points, all to capture Ellone to send her mind even further back in time. All to compress time, to destroy the hateful, spiteful world she had to live in. To save future generations of Sorceresses the pain of having to know you're never wanted, to live under the shadows of the stereotype: the evil, megalomaniacal, tyrannical sorceresses.

"_I tried… I tried so hard…but however hard I tried… it still wasn't…enough. 'It's only a matter of time' they said… 'Soon she'll show her true colors' they said…every slight mistake I made was blown… so far out of proportion… had to adopt a fake accent… and identity… just to save my sanity, I had to wear an unbreakable mask of apathy…hiding my bitterness at being the scum of the earth… the scapegoat to blame for every mishap…Farm burned down? Must be a Fire spell from a damn sorceress… Cows are skittish? Damn sorceress bitch must be close. Mission failed? That Hyne-whore must've cursed it! Tired…just so…tired…I hope the damn world is happy now… that'll give them a real scare… too bad… they'll… just… see sorceresses… even worse… now…"_

She had done it. She had completed Time Compression, but at what cost? No being is allowed to have that much power, to be able to do the work of the gods themselves. And now she was stuck. In her own spell. For what seemed to be an eternity, to mull over her thoughts and actions up to this point. It's not like she had anything else to do, right? She was trapped for perhaps a true eternity, by her own actions. The only thing she could do, really. She couldn't blink, couldn't breathe, and couldn't scratch that itch on her nose.

Just had to sit there and think… in the dreary midnight void of Time Compression. Her castle and enemies seemingly destroyed by the spell, as she floated there, stuck in stasis.

"_I wonder… if I ever survive this… can I ever live in peace… just a normal woman with extraordinary abilities… but never under the stigma of the populace? Maybe then… I can finally have my peace…and get these goddamn horns out of my hair… semi-note to self: horns are not a good accessory… neither is this dress… next note: use powers in selfish ways to change my appearance… if I ever get out of this thing…"_

Her thoughts of how to create a decent (read- non-whorish) appearance was interrupted by an odd sensation. At first it started as a slight twisting feeling in her chest, which quickly escalated into an all out tearing sensation. Pins and needles couldn't describe the feeling. It was as if her entire body was rejecting itself, lances of searing, almost blistering heat jabbed through her being, as the absolute darkness she was resting in exploded in a prismatic flash of color, blinding her temporarily.

* * *

She could feel it, held by the soft flowing energy slipping across her body with an almost ocean like fluidity, the currents of the green energy leaving soft, hair thin touches across her skin, wrapped within its warm embrace.

She could hear it, soft pulsing echoes as the currents swayed about her, moving along on their wayward wanderings, never following a true path, chaotic yet orderly. The currents knew where to go, and they went there… but they never moved the same way twice.

She could even somewhat sense it, like one would feel the presence of a benevolent deity, a tranquil aura weighing down on her consciousness.

But never see it beyond the all-encompassing green glow, almost monotone in its shade of green.

She couldn't smell it, or taste it. After all, what would the pure essence of life smell like? Flowers? That would simply be the essence of flowers. Nothing could describe the smell of life. The taste would be better left unsaid…

She was trapped within the Lifestream of the Planet, the only company she had was herself, and maybe her son… no… wait… he got absorbed, his mind dispersed within the eternal tranquility of the planet, never again to reform into Sephiroth, the One Winged Angel of Death. Ah well. He was a bad son anyway.

Jenova was not a saint, by any means. She had arrived on the planet over 1000 years before the first sorceress was discovered. She had crashed into the Northern continent, creating the Northern Crater, and limped out of the destruction. Her natural form would probably give the nearby life forms pause, so she took the time to shapeshift into someone she had seen within the treacherous landscape of the Crater, trapped beneath boulders, and quite dead.

Of course when she stumbled out of the destruction, who should she meet but that guy's wife? And then when she was found out to not be that woman's husband, all of a sudden everyone's screaming about an alien taking the form of peoples' dead relatives. How was she supposed to know that woman knew that guy was dead as soon as he died 'cause she can hear the Planet and everything in it?

They attacked Jenova on sight, and she was forced to fight back, trying to not hurt anyone. Unfortunately, her pause to deal fatal damage to anyone was her demise. They rounded up all these… Ancients… and sealed her away, forcing her to shapeshift back into her natural form, stuck in the Crater until someone would come by and release her. Granted, she was still conscious of everything around her, but that wasn't that much of a help, considering she couldn't move…or do anything…

Thousands of years later, that just happened to be a ShinRa platoon, led by who else but Hojo? He apparently had heard the rumor of the "Calamity of the Heavens" was still sealed away in the Northern Crater.

"_Hmph… I'm just glad… that fucker is gone… sick, twisted bastard… I wish I could've killed him… but no, he took some of my cells and injected them… into a goddamn fetus… disgusting fuck. After that Sephiroth guy finally learned about it… he went psycho on everyone… so I contacted his mind… trying to get him to release me… but that bastard just wanted my power for himself… so I tried to take over his mind… and failed…he instead took over my body… and tried to deal a fatal wound to the Planet… claiming his 'mother' wanted to be with him forever… I do feel sorry for that poor Aeris girl, though… stabbed through the stomach by a maniacal, oedipal bastard. I wonder… she was an Ancient… I wonder if I can apologize to her in the Lifestream…?"_

She tried to send her thoughts to the Planet itself, managing to screw up her face in a grand imitation of constipation, but no response. She relaxed a little, and tried to speak, but no words would escape her mouth. A slow tear trailed down her cheek as she thought of all the destruction her 'son' had caused in her name, and that perhaps the Planet had forsaken her, leaving her to forever be trapped, never absorbed, never released from the core of the Planet.

As her thoughts took a depressing turn, she was blinded by a flash of green-white, and found herself in a field of flowers set against a white sky.

She could feel someone else's presence near her, and if memory served… it was that flower girl, Aeris!

"_Were you trying to reach out to me, Jenova?"_ A soft voice stated from behind her. Jenova relaxed, running a hand through her translucent, silver-white hair in an attempt to stave off the feelings that swelled up in her. She could finally apologize, and hopefully be forgiven for all the heinous grievances she never committed or planned to commit!

"_Yes… I wanted to apologize… I was never sent here to destroy the planet…I… I want to be forgiven, Aeris…"_ Her voice was a tad bit raspy from thousands of years of disuse, yet still managed to convey her message as she tried to make her vocal chords relearn how to work.

"_Oh? What is there to be forgiven? We were always told that the "Calamity of the Heavens" was sent here to destroy the planet, and to infect all others, causing destruction and chaos around the universe." _Aeris' voice had a slight edge to it, unsure if she should trust the one that was blamed for so much.

"_I merely was trying to escape my own planet as it neared its own destruction. When I came here, I assumed the form of someone I found dying in the Northern Crater, but your ancestors thought I was some form of a threat that could take the shape of their dead loved ones and sealed me away… and then that bastard Hojo started experimenting on me while I was still conscious, yet held in stasis in a large tube… I never wanted any of this to happen… so I tried to take over Sephiroth's mind… that didn't go over well…"_

"_What happened?"_

"_He…was able to circumvent the mind control… and took over my body, destroying his own as he used my ability to shapeshift into his old body. He used my abilities for his own gains… his mind, demented from Hojo's experiments, came up with the idea that I was his mother… and that since all the files said I was to destroy the planet… that he should do that for me…" _A sneer almost echoed off her statement, her mind repulsed by the idea that she should ever want to do anything of the sort.

"_Why are you telling this all to me now? It's a little late, isn't it? Sephiroth is dead, his mind destroyed within the Lifestream, the Black Materia is also gone, destroyed in the aftereffects of Holy. The Planet shall be in danger no more." _A curious tone slipped into her speech. She could detect no lie from Jenova… and yet all the pieces were into place for her story… she could be easily misunderstood from what happened to her, not to mention all of Sephiroth's great "deeds" in the name of his "mother".

"_I just… want to be forgiven. Even though I may not have been in control, I still witnessed everything he did… and it sickened me. I tried so hard to prevent him, especially from murdering you. I was nearly screaming in his mind to stop, but I suppose… he was too far gone in his little world…" _Two tears dripped out of her mismatched eyes, painting silvery trails down her light blue cheeks, before falling to the flowers below.

"_You have given me a lot to think about, Jenova… I'll have to discuss this with the other souls of the Ancients, to get their recollection of what happened when you first arrived… if all goes well, I'll release you from the Lifestream, seeing as how your soul is alien to this planet, and cannot be absorbed for reincarnation."_

"_Thank you… that is all I wish for. I'm just… tired, I guess…" _Her voice was absolutely _dripping_ with eons-old weariness. _"I've been conscious for over three thousand years… can you wake me from my hibernation when you've reached a decision?" _

"_Of course. Sleep now, Jenova, and I shall wake you when we're done." _

Jenova slowly closed her eyes, almost sobbing with relief at finally being able to descend into sleep once more, laying her body amidst the field of flowers. As she slipped off into her world of slumber, only one thought resounded within her mind. _"Thank you, Aeris, for giving me a chance."_

* * *

Millennia later…

* * *

"_Jenova… it's time to wake up… we've reached a decision." _Aeris' light voice broke through the darkness of her hibernation, rousing her from an almost comatose slumber. She gently stood up amidst the flowers, taking special care to not smash one on accident, smoothing her waist length silver-white hair down. She looked down at herself and a light pink blush spread across her face, realizing she had been naked ever since she was sealed, and it never occurred to her to put on some clothing. Moulding some of her cells to her will, she created a flowing silver kimono that reached down to her ankles.

She slipped her arms into her sleeves and turned around to face Aeris, a content smile on her face at finally being able to sleep after so long. She held in a smirk at the slight widening of the eyes, and the astonishment shown within the Ancient's green orbs.

"_Surely you knew I could control my cells at will, right? It's not so hard to create clothing out of that, even replicating the true feel of the clothes, so long as I've felt them before."_

Aeris merely nodded, containing her surprise at the level of control required for such a feat. "_I did… but we never really saw you use that ability often. We only knew it existed because Sephiroth would create horrible abominations by dropping what looked to be a tentacle, and then it'd take shape into some malicious monster. He always referred to them as parts of his 'mother', so I guess that kind of… didn't help with the stereotype of you being a planet-destroying monster."_

Jenova's lips curled downward into a frown, wanting nothing more than to utterly obliterate Sephiroth for the perversion of her ability, to torture his mind to the point that he fell into an incurable coma, to rend his… She pushed those thoughts aside for now and brought attention back to the matter at hand.

"_That insufferable whelp… I hope he gets reincarnated as a roach in the middle of a pesticide convention… oh well. You have reached a decision, yes?"_

The green-eyed Ancient giggled a little as she saw the flickers of emotion go through Jenova's eyes, judging by the pure hatred she exuded when she mentioned Sephiroth that she truly loathed the man for making a mockery of her abilities, and furthering the belief that she was some sort of monster.

"_Yes… we have decided that we believe you, and that we shall release you from the Lifestream. It took awhile to debate, because we had to get past some of the biases of the people who first saw you… they said something about 'Tentacles don't GO there!' or some such nonsense… you wouldn't know anything about that, right?"_

Jenova let her eyes wander all around the scenery, trying hard to hold in the urge to whistle innocently, before breaking down and giggling uncontrollably.

"_I'm sorry but… when I first got here, I was trying to not kill anyone, so I attacked at their blind spots with blunt force… I think that guy got hit in the ass… and I really, really, __**really**__ hope I didn't actually penetrate him. I didn't have any weapons, so I was forced to attack with my own cells… which is kind of an odd sensation, actually. Almost like stretching your body as one would stretch taffy, I guess."_

Aeris laughed again, smiling softly as she tried to picture it.

"_Yes, I suppose that might've been their own fault for attacking you… Either way, we've decided that you're trustworthy to live on the surface without going on a planet-destroying binge. Unfortunately…we'll never be able to reincarnate you, seeing as how your soul is so different from the souls within the Lifestream, so you'll basically be immortal, and should you ever get nearly-killed, you'll be brought here to recover before being released again. Unfortunately, since you first came here, the planet has changed quite a bit on the outside. There's only one large continent now, which they call the Elemental Countries. The only area we'll be able to release you in would be Fire Country, is that alright with you?"_

Jenova tapped an elegant, clawed fingertip against her chin, deep in thought about having to explore the world to see how much it had changed since her last stay, before responding with a twinge of wanderlust within her voice.

"_It actually seems quite fine to me. Will anyone remember the "Calamity of the Heavens" and persecute me for it?"_

The Ancient smiled disarmingly, gently setting a hand on Jenova's shoulder to calm her.

"_Don't worry. After a combination of Meteor almost being summoned, multiple wars, and the latest event of Time Compression which reconstructed almost all of the planet's surface, as well as obliterating all technology as they knew it, there would be no one alive that would remember anything. Most of the humans are busy re-learning magic, but they have changed the dynamic of it sort of… they channel their energy not through materia, but through different hand gestures they call hand-seals to recreate the effects of some of the magic that was lost."_

The blue-skinned woman grinned wide, showing off her perfect set of teeth.

"_I think I'll like the Planet just the way it is right now. I promise I won't mess around with it too much. Who knows? I might find a successor to my name and abilities out there, if they're deemed worthy enough. If they were born human in the first place, then they might also become nigh-immortal like myself, so I'll have to warn them of that before I take action. Wouldn't want someone else to suffer like myself for forgetting that."_

Aeris' lips twitched upward in a serene smile, her eyes sparkling mischeviously as she prepared to defy one of the principal rules of the Planet.

"_Are you ready to go back, Jenova?"_

"_Yes."_

With that one word, the field of flowers disappeared in a green flash, the planet crying out with the effort to expel the alien from the depths of its core. Earthquakes rumbled in the location with the deepest crevice, the area where Jenova was about to reemerge. The Lifestream surged upwards from there, the green liquid pooling out of the crack in the Planet's exterior, carrying with it an ecstatic blue woman.

* * *

Ultimecia surged to her feet, looking around the area in which she found herself. Coughing heavily with the intake of air she felt deprived of for so long, she wobbled her way to the cave wall, pressing a hand to it as she tried hard to recollect what happened.

"If I remember correctly," she mumbled to herself as her voice strained to work after what seemed an eternity of disuse, "I felt like I was being torn apart, then that flash… where am I…? _When_ am I…?"

Her thoughts were derailed when she realized she was not alone in the cave. A low growling sound was all that warned her of the impending attack before five large claws slashed at where she had been moments before, only her instinct saved her by forcing her to phase through the wall and appear on top of her attacker.

Fur. Lots and lots of blood red fur. Soft, to be sure, but definitely not reflecting on the temperament of whatever it was connected to. She looked behind her to see nine thick tails swaying back and forth, almost chaotically, and behind that an inky blackness, as if the cave had no end. She looked forward to see the exit of the cave, the sky a bruised purple-blue, denoting twilight.

A deep rumbling sound emitted from further in the cave, startling her and the creature she was seated atop of. A deep green glow spread from the void behind her, brightening gradually until it became a bright light, blinding the creature as it looked back to search for the source of the cracking and groaning of the earth around it.

A deep, anguished cry emitted from deep in the cave, as if the force to create that green glow was causing great pain to it. Before long the cave was flooded with bright green tidal wave of liquid, shoving the creature and it's rider out of the cave with a deep roar, managing to drench the bottom half of the colossal creature.

A soft _thump_ was heard next to Ultimecia, as the rider on the radioactive-green wave of doom (patent pending) landed next to her on the massive nine-tailed creature. She looked down to see a tall woman, about 6'0", with glacier blue skin and silver-white waist length hair, wearing an elegant silver kimono with wide sleeves. The woman was splayed out against the blood red fur of the creature, and seemed to wake from a slumber as Ultimecia stared at her.

"Nngh… never again… am I asking to be rejected out of the Planet… that thing screams too loud…" the woman mumbled, rolling onto her back and opening her eyes. Ultimecia was startled at first, looking at a piercing red eye, that seemed to glow with a light of it's own, matched with a softly glowing green eye as they stared at her. An elegant white eyebrow rose in obvious question of seeing someone so soon of waking up, but before the question could be asked, a tremendous roar of agony split the sky, the nine-tailed red behemoth shaking violently in obvious pain.

Ultimecia and Jenova (as Ultimecia would later learn her name was) clung onto the back of the animal as it seemed to roar in pure torture, sprinting out of the cave, weaving side to side and destroying the landscape, a victim of extreme Mako poisoning from the wave of the Lifestream that soaked it.

A few hours, and a few introductions made at high speeds on a lumbering, agony stricken nine tailed fox, later, Jenova and Ultimecia were still holding onto the Kyuubi as it sprinted with a large village as its target, seemingly dead set on its destruction. As they drew nearer, a large 'poof' of smoke appeared, and a blond man holding an equally blond child on top of a gargantuan toad hopped into the direct path of the giant fox. The man whispered a few words, going through odd hand gestures faster than the eye could normally follow, and then both Jenova and Ultimecia felt an odd tugging sensation, before they spiraled along with the fox, into an intricate seal array on the blond baby's stomach.

They awoke a few hours later, and put the soul of the fox out of it's misery since it was completely beyond the help of the Sorceress and the alien. Ultimecia finally got to fix her fashion disaster, using her Sorcery to reconstruct her red dress, if that article of clothing could be called such, into a flowing midnight black gown that more properly covered her body, ending just short of the ankles. She altered her hair, removing the odd horn ornaments, and let her metallic silver hair fall down to the middle of her back, the two strands of hair on either side of her face falling down the front of her chest, ending just short of her stomach.

She looked over to Jenova and saw her wary gaze, her eyebrow raised in silent question of the feat performed by Ultimecia, causing the Sorceress to grin and use her magic to create a pair of large, comfy chairs, beckoning the alien to sit down across from her. The two sat down to talk within the confines of a large cage, connected to a veritable labyrinth of sewer tunnels.

Life stories were exchanged, powers discussed, and conjectures about their location were drawn. They studied the seal array that bound them from within the dank cell, learning that they need to wait for their container to approach them before they could work anything out, so they sat back down in the chairs, and Ultimecia conjured a 60" monitor screen to see through the container's eyes, and allowed them to also hear what was going on.

They would be trapped in this state, watching through the child's eyes, powerless to help him for years to come, before they were finally able to meet him.

* * *

Author's Note: First fanfiction written... kinda odd. It came to me in a dream, as overused as that sounds. Will be working on it in my spare time, and I have a lot of that. Reviews would be nice, but I don't really expect them until I actually get to the part where it involves Naruto.

Odd thought: Should he also inherit Aeris' limit breaks in his repertoire of abilities?

Next Chapter: Meeting the Calamity of the Heavens and the Compressor of Time.


	2. Meeting the Tenants

Author's Note: Woo! I got a review!

**LovePsycho**: I think I'll give him Healing Wind, Seal Evil, Breath of the Earth, Pulse of Life…and I guess maybe Great Gospel.

Thoughts on how to pull this off without making it even more overpowered:

Healing Wind: Takes an unholy amount of concentration to flow pure healing magic into the air, manipulating the wind to gently swirl all around the targets, allowing it to soothe all wounds via regeneration, as opposed to healing. And by that, I mean instead of causing a scar by stitching the wound together, it regenerates the missing flesh. No scar, no reduced life span from too much healing (Tsunade's Infuuin kai: Souzou Saisei). It's definitely not great for mid-battle usage, for he might be hit while trying to pull it off.

Seal Evil: This can be used whenever he wants, but it takes some pretty good control to pull it off. It's also prone to wearing off if the target is good at manipulating genjutsu, regardless of the fact that it's not ninjutsu or genjutsu (Stop would be kind of overpowered in the Naruto world where even a few seconds is lethal). Weaves an intricate spell pattern through the air surrounding the targets to stop them for about thirty seconds to a minute, and prevents their voices from working for another ten minutes afterwards.

Breath of the Earth: Sends shockwaves of healing magic through the target's body, purging any and all ailments, complex or not from them. It can remove biological diseases such as cancer, viruses such as the flu, poisons, and just about everything else that's negative in effect. The aftereffect of having your system purged so forcefully forces the target to undergo bed rest for a day due to the shock to the immune system of being sick one moment, and absolutely fine the next.

Pulse of Life: Taps into the Lifestream to regenerate and reconstruct damaged bodies. Cannot bring dead souls back to life, but if some guy is like… hanging onto the last thread of life while his body is blown to bits, then this is the ability to bring him back! You don't even need to find all the missing parts, it'll just regenerate them all. Quite possibly the most powerful healing effect in Naruto's arsenal, but can only be used once a week since he channels the Lifestream so he gets mild Mako Poisoning, and any more exposure to that would force him into a coma.

Great Gospel(Still thinking about it… it WAS the most ridiculous limit break ever): I'm thinking… can only be used in times of extreme duress. Meaning, life or death for Naruto or someone he cares a lot about. It calls on the Legacy of the Ancients, channeling Aeris and her ancestors to send a surge of the Lifestream into the skies, pouring healing rain down onto him and his allies. No invincible effect, but can bring back the dead's souls, but only if Aeris and the other Ancients deem them redeemable, so that they can reconstruct them from the Lifestream instead of reincarnating them.

Just my thoughts on the limits to make them powerful so that he'll use them, but not powerful enough to just be like…

"I see an enemy! Seal Evil! –decapitate-"

"I GOT A PAPERCUT! HEALING WIND!"

They're not meant for everyday usage, only for when nothing else works, or he needs an extreme amount of help at the time. He may be godlike in the ability to destroy things, but he can't do much when it comes to protection/healing with his abilities.

Before I forget, I'm making him use a staff as his primary weapon, because I think that never happens. Ever. They're always zanbatos, katanas, hell I even saw one with sais before. But never staves. Maybe it's because they're blunt force? Ah well. I'll just give him the Guard Stick since it looked decent compared to the ornamental style of the other staves.

Ack. Rambling. ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Jenova, Ultimecia, Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 8. They are all owned by their respective companies.

"Talking"

_'Thoughts'_

**"Spell/Technique/Jutsu"**

* * *

Meeting the Calamity of the Heavens and the Compressor of Time

It was a grand afternoon in Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The sun was shining brightly on all the joyous people, the birds were singing in a heavenly choir of the joys of life, there was a bloodthirsty mob of ninjas and civilians trying to capture a four year old child to rip him limb from limb…

Wha..?

Naruto was currently running for his life through the winding streets of Konoha, stumbling on rocks, cats, and the occasional party favor. His clothes were dirty and nearly ripped to shreds, his usually golden skin turned a grimy brown from lack of showers (no whisker marks or other outward signs of the Jinchuuriki. There isn't a Kyuubi to influence that). All in all, he looked like a hobo. And he was currently sprinting as fast as his short little four year old legs could carry him away from the mob, trying to escape the cries of 'Kill the demon!' 'This is for my family!' and 'Finish what the Yondaime started!'.

All in all, a regular birthday for Naruto. He continued running as fast as he could, almost thanking the citizens for their persistence in running after him that gave him such great stamina and running speed over his short lifespan. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end, just as his escape was brutally cut off by a Chuunin dropping from the rooftops in front of him, kunai in hand.

The man's face was twisted in his hatred; you could almost wonder why he didn't start slobbering and growling.

"You're not getting away this time, demon brat!"

Naruto simply tried to sidestep him, and go around. It was pointless to argue with them. It never made anything better, it just made it worse. His escape plan was cut off by the kunai hitting him in the back of his thigh, forcing him to the ground, and unable to escape. He pulled the kunai out of his leg, tossing it to the side as he ran down an alleyway, the Chuunin not far behind, until he hit a dead end. He could almost sob in despair, his only escape cut off with a mob following him. He ran to the corner in the alleyway and curled up in a tiny ball, hoping that the added protection would save him from death.

Kunai were stabbed, Shuriken were thrown, boards with nails on them were swung, lead pipes were smashed down, and all other implements of doom descended on the poor child. Ribs were broken, his skin impaled by the kunai and shuriken, and large lacerations were ripped by the nails. Through it all, he didn't say a word, just let tears stream down his cheeks in a never ending flow.

_'__Why…? Why always me…? I never…did…anything…' _Was his last thought before he lost consciousness, slipping into the embrace of the void to escape the pain.

* * *

He stirred, wondering why his back and legs were wet. It wasn't the first time he'd wake up in an area not near where he was caught by the mob, but this would be the first time he woke up wet…

His sky blue eyes fluttered before opening slowly, just a sliver at first to judge the area safe or not. He realized he was in a dank sewer, the ceiling almost crumbing, the walls yellowed with decay, and the water up about six inches deep. Strangely, though, the water didn't smell like anything. It was clear, almost as if it were pure… He checked his body and noted that, regardless of the fact that his clothes have new tears from the weapons, he still didn't have a scar or an injury.

He sighed a bit, and decided to find out where the tunnels go. Left turn…right turn…left turn… left turn… these tunnels were nigh endless! His ears perked at the sounds of shouting in the distance, though, so he closed his eyes to better focus on his hearing. He followed the passages until he found himself in a rather large room, with only three walls. A wall to his left, a wall opposite him with another passage leading away, and the wall he came in through. The last area for a wall was a row of vertical bars, with a small slip of paper holding them together in the middle with the kanji for 'Seal' on it.

He could clearly hear the two voices yelling at each other now, and strangely… they were both female.

"That's it! I'm going to compress time all over again! Nobody should have to deal with this stigma." The first voice seemed to be in her mid twenties to early thirties, showing her calculating nature. It was almost an apathetic tone, with a rather large hint of annoyance showing through at the moment.

"Hell no! I'm going to resummon Meteor on these bigoted fools! The fox isn't even here anymore, we killed it!" The second voice was softer. Almost… a sibilant murmur through the cage, regardless of the fact that she was planning on worldwide destruction. It seemed as if she didn't often use her voice, but instead used other means of communication.

Naruto slowly walked up to the bars and peered inside, but what he saw surprised him.

A woman, about 5'8" tall with an almost metallic shade of silver hair was standing up, her face sneering at a large monitor in front of her. On her back were two feathery black angel wings, with her hair falling neatly in between them down to her lower back. Her fists were balled in fury, dark purple energy glowing around them with an audible hum of power. Her eyes were flashing a bright golden, with dark purple zigzag tattoos spread from her hairline down to her eyes, and the edges of her mouth. She was wearing a maroon gown with wide sleeves, the edges floating an inch or two off the water as she hovered in the air without using her wings.

The second woman was taller, about 6'0", with flowing, translucent, white-silver hair that reached down to her waist. She had, strangely, one softly glowing ocean green eye and one brightly glowing crimson eye. Her teeth were bared at the same monitor, showing off her elongated canines. She had a light blue skin tone, a few shades darker than the sky. Her hands were bared in a claw-like manner, with good reason too; she couldn't ball her fists. Her long, slender fingers ended in vicious two inch claws at the tips, which would probably draw blood from the slightest touch. This woman was wearing a flowing silver kimono, the edges about two inches off the water to avoid getting damp. Unlike the other woman, she wasn't floating.

Naruto stood there, dumbfounded as the two women discussed different ways to absolutely obliterate his attackers. He caught a few phrases which were 'TENTACLE RAPE!' and 'I'll make Itachi's Tsukiyomi look like a sneeze!' before he decided to let them know he was there. He let out a slight cough, standing just outside the bars, wondering if they'd notice him yet.

All squabbling on different ways to castrate a man halted at the soft coughing noise. Ultimecia and Jenova slowly turned around, as if they were children caught breaking a flower vase by their mother. Their eyes widened at the sight of their container on the other side of the bars. Jenova retracted her claws back into fingernails, and stood there with an astonished look on her face. Ultimecia calmed herself, the purple energy dispersing into the air, her wings fading away, but still hovering above the water. She doesn't want her dress to get wet, does she?

Seeing as how the women weren't going to start this off, Naruto scratched the side of his cheek and gave a small wave to them. "Uh… hi? Where are we?"

Ultimecia's lips twitched upward in a semblance of a smile, her eyes fading back to the normal bright golden color, sans glowing. Her soft voice echoed around the large cage as she slowly floated towards him, not wanting to scare him off.

"We are inside your mind, Naruto. You were brought here when the mob almost killed you, but thankfully the Hokage and his ANBU saved you. I have stopped time inside here so we can discuss as much as we need to without a second going by out there."

Naruto blinked a few times in rapid succession, confusion showing clearly in his eyes as he asked the obvious question:

"If we're in my mind… who are you two, and why are you here?"

Jenova's dark blue lips upturned in a serene smile, walking up beside Ultimecia and crouching down to Naruto's level, about two feet away from him.

"We were sealed inside here at the time of your birth, little one. The Yondaime, your father, had to protect the village from the Kyuubi. Unfortunately, both Ultimecia and I, Jenova, were seated atop the fox, clinging to it for our lives as it leapt around. After we were sealed, we put the fox out of its misery, since it went on a rampage due to unimaginable pain being inflicted upon it."

Naruto's eyes widened, first at the shock that the Yondaime was his father, then at the fact that the Kyuubi was sealed inside him with these two ladies, then at the fact that they KILLED the demon fox, and finally at the knowledge that the Kyuubi wasn't to blame. It was just in horrible agony.

"So…the villagers… only see me as the Kyuubi, right? Nobody had any knowledge that you were on top of it, so nobody knew you were in here…" His eyes clouded in sadness, his thoughts straying to the depressing fact that they were locked inside of him.

Ultimecia seemed to read his thoughts, reaching out and beckoning him to come closer, through the bars of the cage. Her fingers were about as long as Jenova's, but instead of claws, hers had long nails, about two inches off the tip of her finger.

"Do not worry. We aren't here to harm you, nor are we evil. You can come in here if you'd like, and I'll conjure another chair for you to sit in so we can discuss this."

The boy's eyes widened at the blatant kindness, a foreign idea from anyone aside from the Hokage, but he only visited him when he was in the hospital…

He walked through the bars, an odd feeling of a barrier passing over his skin as he walked up to them, staring up in suspicion, and slight hope at the kindness.

"Why are you two being so nice to me…? Nobody is ever nice to me… unless they just want to hurt me more."

The wisdom of experience, compounded with the child's sad tone was almost heartbreaking.

Jenova was the one to break the sad silence, wrapping her arms around the boy and pulling him into a hug, gently stroking through his dirt ridden hair with loving ease. She paused a moment as he stiffened, as if waiting for the blow to come, and hugged him closer to her, sitting down in one of the comfy chairs with the child in her arms.

"We both know what it's like to be misunderstood. To be hated without reason. To be blamed for something you're not. We understand your pain, and that is why we wish to help you. We may never be able to escape the seal while it holds, but I think Ultimecia and I might have an idea of how to help you. But we can talk about that later. We've been watching your life for the past four years, and we'd like you to know that we do, indeed, care for you. You will never be a monster to us, for we have both felt what it's like to be labeled as such."

Naruto could hardly believe his ears at this information, and broke down sobbing in Jenova's arms, crying out in relief and sadness, finally able to have someone to care for him for once. To actually care for him, and be with him. A second pair of arms wrapped around him, sharp nails careful not to hurt him as Ultimecia joined in the hug, a few tears gently dripping down her face.

"We can give you what neither of us had: a family. A loving family." Her voice was near his ear, and caused him to cry even harder, as the two women whispered soothing words in his ears, rocking him back and forth between them as he let out all his feelings. The walls seemed to brighten, the water evaporating slowly as his mind was gradually healed of all the pain of his life.

A few hours later, but with time still stopped within the seal, they had gotten around to talking about how they would be able to help him.

"So… you're a Sorceress who controls time and space?" Naruto's voice was filled with child-like wonder. He had read in one of the books at the library (the librarian was out to lunch so she couldn't throw him out) that the most powerful Sorceress had compressed thousands of years into an instant, and destroyed the ancient technology so long ago.

Ultimecia seemed to brighten that the blond boy would be so interested in her field of work. She broke out into a small grin, eyes flashing with mischief.

"Not only that, but from absorbing all other Sorceresses throughout time, I am the last Sorceress on the planet. However, by doing that, I also picked up Ice Manipulation from Sorceress Edea, the ability to mold pure, primal magic from Sorceress Rinoa, and the ability to manipulate magic into pure force from Sorceress Adel. I am Grand Sorceress Ultimecia, the one who cast the spell of Time Compression, which, although it caused large-scale devestation… I only wanted to save other Sorceresses from the stigma that comes with the powers. The stereotype of the evil, maniacal, bloodthirsty magic-weilding women was unfounded and absolutely ridiculous. Most Sorceresses actually started out good, but all the pressure caused them to lose their mind to the stereotype, becoming the very thing they never wanted to be."

The child's eyes sparkled in absolute near-fanboyism. Thankfully, he didn't let out a banshee squeal. His eyes widened a little as he recognized her from the story he read…

"You're the one that cast Time Compression? AWESOME!" His voice echoed loudly off the walls, causing Jenova to wince a little at the volume and how close she was to the boy since she was holding him in her lap. Ultimecia was spared the pain since she was seated a few feet away in a cushy chair. She nodded a little, embarrassed that her spell that nearly destroyed the world was still remembered.

"Yes. However, I would never cast that spell again. Not only was I caught in my own spell for what seemed an eternity, but I killed a lot of innocent people. The ends _never_ justify the means. That is something I learned when held within Time Compression." Her voice had a hint of pure sadness and regret in it, clearly not wanting to think about all the lives she ended with that one spell.

"And I, little one, am the alien being known as Jenova, The Calamity of the Heavens that descended on the planet thousands of years ago. However, I did not come here to destroy the planet. Unfortunately, the Ancients didn't see that when I first arrived, and I was sealed away for thousands of years. Then I was unsealed, if only briefly, to be put into a large cylinder. I was experimented on by a twisted scientist named Hojo who was trying to create the ultimate warrior. He finally succeeded by injecting some of my cells into an unborn fetus, and created an evil man who tried to destroy the planet. I tried to take over his mind, using my cells as the anchor, but he went around that and took over my body to continue destroying lives for the sake of his 'mother', as he called me. Such a twisted boy… he was eventually killed, and I was lost within the Lifestream, the blood of the planet, until one of the Ancients' souls came to talk to me. It took them millennia to discuss it, but they allowed me back on the surface of the planet. In fact… that's actually how the Kyuubi attack started…" Her voice trailed off here, a forlorn expression settling on her face, and twin tears dropping out of her mismatched eyes.

"What happened?" The boy's voice sounded wary and slightly suspicious, hoping that neither of his two new family members caused the Kyuubi attack on purpose.

"When I was released from the core of the planet, I was carried on a large surge of Lifestream to the surface, which happened to be within the Kyuubi's cave. I landed on its back next to Ultimecia, but the wave splashed the demon fox. A little known fact that has been lost to time is that the Lifestream is extremely poisonous. All the souls of the dead flow through it, and all the thoughts they still possess are extremely confusing, and they build up in your head to a roar, causing intense pain. Even dipping one finger into it can give you a condition called Mako Poisoning from the concentrated essence of life. Basically, the Kyuubi got soaked with a large wave of it, and got an absolutely horrendous case of Mako Poisoning. Ultimecia and I were just along for the ride, since we couldn't escape. When we were sealed in here, we destroyed it to put it out of its misery." Jenova was almost trembling at this point, clearly feeling absolute regret and despair at possibly being the reason that the poor child's life was so horrid.

Naruto thought about this for a minute, before wrapping both his arms around the alien and hugging her tightly, his voice muffled a little as he spoke to her.

"Jenova-kaasan… don't worry. It's not your fault… You and Ultimecia-kaasan did the right thing… I'm sure that Kyuubi was relieved to finally have peace after getting that condition…"

Ultimecia and Jenova stood stock still as they learned their new nicknames, before both of them wrapped their arms around the small boy and hugged him tight enough to almost cut off airflow.

"Thank you, sochi." They both said at the same time.

* * *

A few hours later (still no time passed on the outside)

The Sorceress and the alien were both discussing quietly, so as to not disturb the sleeping Naruto, on how they could help their new son. They had a few ideas, one being cast a combination of Meteor and Apocalypse on Konoha and just walk away, but that wouldn't help…much…but it'd calm their anger at the village at least. Finally, Ultimecia brought up a plausible idea.

"What if he removed the seal, and we could dwell in his mind like Guardian Forces? He could summon us if he ever gets into trouble, and if he inherited your abilities, he'd be able to make clones of us and shove our consciousnesses into the clones, allowing us to walk around freely if he doesn't need us to battle."

Jenova closed her eyes and tapped her chin with one fingertip, the other stroking through the golden locks of her sleeping son.

"That would work… but I'd have to warn him of what happens if he chooses to inherit my abilities. Would you be passing on your Sorceress abilities to him, as well? I'm sure there's a way for you to pass at least part of them on without dying first, to give him a base of Ice Manipulation, Time and Space Manipulation, Force Manipulation, and Magic Manipulation so that he can work his way up from there. That way you can teach him, and he won't get overloaded at the beginning and accidentally cast Apocalypse when his emotions run rampant."

Ultimecia pondered on this for a few moments, before her lips spread in a wide grin, eyes sparkling in anticipation. Her voice, while still apathetic, was almost humming in contentment at the prospect.

"I'm sure I can do that, but we'll have to take him on a training trip. Sorceress abilities are governed by emotion, so his sadness could bring on a Blizzaga, his anger bring on a Flare… you get the idea. I think I heard them talking about how Academy Students are evaluated for Genin at age 15? I'm sure in an 11 year span we can hone his emotional and mental control to the point where he doesn't accidentally cast a spell, or lash out with his body's cellular structure on instinct. That takes care of their 'ninjutsu' and 'genjutsu' capabilities as they call it… What about his hand-to-hand combat, or 'taijutsu' and his weapons combat, 'kenjutsu'?"

A voice sounded in the seal, familiar to only one of the occupants. It was feminine, soft, and had a soothing aspect to it.

"I believe I can assist with that."

Jenova's head whirled around so quickly, if she were corporeal, her neck would've snapped. Her eyes widened as she took in the transparent form of Aeris Gainsborough carrying a large staff. The staff itself looked quite solid, with one small indentation in the middle of the shaft, where one would place their hands. The indentation looked small enough to carry a marble in it. The staff itself was about six feet long, with the final two feet in either direction thicker than most of the staff, giving it the ability to strike without breaking. The middle where one would hold it was also slightly thicker, allowing one to hold it in both hands without over or under handling it.

Jenova's voice faltered a little as she tried to take in the Ancient, Ultimecia's eyes narrowing in suspicion at the intruder to the seal. Her eyes widened in recognition as Jenova spoke one word that set off her memory to the story Jenova had told her when they first met in the seal.

"Aeris…?"

The green eyed woman smiled warmly, her eyes sparkling a little in sadness as she took in the two beings held captive to the seal, and the poor blond boy still sleeping in the lap of Jenova.

"Yes, Jenova. I have come here to give my own present to the child. The successor of the Sorceress Legacy, and the Calamity of the Heavens. This was the first staff I ever used, and I carried it with me into the Lifestream when I died. The prolonged exposure to the Mako energy has made it indestructible, and will help him channel his power as it once did for me. I have watched over him from the Planet, and I am deeply regretful that he had to receive the same treatment both of you were given. I have come to give him the Blessings of the Ancients, to allow him to have a connection to the Planet, to hopefully help him retain hope in humanity. I wouldn't have wished his treatment on even Hojo."

A silver tear dripped from her eye as she recalled how the child was treated by his own village. Neglect, abuse, parents pulling their children away from him, not allowing them to play with him, to give them a lecture on how that child happens to be a monster.

Ultimecia's eyes widened in astonishment as she tried to comprehend just what the Ancient was offering to the boy. She walked over and gently tapped Naruto's shoulder, shaking him a little to wake him up so that he may have a say in his fate.

The sun touched boy woke up groggily to a slight shaking from his shoulder. He rubbed his eyes as he sat up in the lap of a woman, _'Jenova-kaasan'_, his mind supplied. He opened his ocean blue eyes to look at the newcomer to the seal. He took in her long pink dress and red jacket, her medium height, and how her brunette hair was tied back in a loose twist. He saw a pink bow in her hair, the staff in her palms that was held perpendicular to her hips, and her warm green eyes. He immediately liked her for a reason that escaped him. She just seemed to exude kindness, serenity, and life, despite the fact that her transparency suggested she was just a soul, a ghost.

"Who are you?" Were the first words out of his mouth. He snuggled back against Jenova, hoping that the newcomer wouldn't want to hurt him. He may trust two people now, but that didn't mean he'd let down his defenses for others.

The woman smiled sadly at him, walking slowly towards him and stroking a soft finger down his cheek. The sensation was odd, it felt like real flesh, warm and soft, yet there was something… off with it. Despite the fact that it felt real, it also felt like a mixture of death and life. Quite a conundrum. A ghost that exudes life. Her voice was soft and soothing, immediately putting his mind at ease that she was, indeed, a friendly woman.

"My name is Aeris Gainsborough. I am an Ancient of the Planet, one who tends to the planet, heals it if it should be hurt. I am a protector, a healer. I was the last Ancient of my time, a time when your kaasan, Jenova, was being controlled by Sephiroth. I died saving the planet by praying for Holy. I am here to give you the Blessings of the Ancients, should you choose to receive it. It would basically make you an Ancient. One who speaks to the planet, protects it from those that wish to harm it, and heals its wounds. The Ancients are the sheepherders of the souls of the Lifestream. We guide the dead to reincarnation. I am also the one who spoke with your kaasan in the Lifestream, and helped her to come back to the surface. My reasons for offering the Blessings are twofold; there are no Ancients left alive after my time, and it would be nice to have another to tend the planet from the surface. The second reason is because I have also seen your treatment, and though I couldn't prevent it, I would like to make it up to you and hope that your faith in humanity is restored. That not all humans are as cruel as the villagers are to you. I believe your two kaasans were also thinking of doing something special for you, as well."

The boy's eyes widened, tearing up slightly at the thought of a third woman being kind to him. He thought a little on it, and his mind was made up quickly. Ultimecia and Jenova were still shellshocked by the offer given to him to say anything just yet…

"If I were to accept your offer, would I be allowed to use the power to protect not only the Planet itself, but also those who are precious to me? I don't want anyone else to live like Jenova-kaasan, Ultimecia-kaasan, or I have lived. Nobody should suffer that fate."

Aeris blinked a little, a little startled at the wisdom and intelligence shown by the four year old. Her smile was as radiant as the sun when she realized what he was asking, gently patting him on the head.

"Of course. That is one of the first and foremost principals of the Ancients. We are protectors of those who cannot protect themselves; we are healers who soothe the wounds caused by humanity, whether it is to the Planet, or to humanity itself."

Jenova and Ultimecia finally broke out of their shock, offering their gifts to the child as well.

"Sochi… I would like to offer you my power as a Sorceress as well. I would like you to use Sorcery to protect instead of destroy as I have done. I wouldn't give you all my power, just enough to give you the basics in Time and Space, Force, Ice, and Magic Manipulation. I would teach you how to control your emotions and powers so that you don't accidentally release too much power. However, if you agree to my bargain, you must be warned. While Jenova and I will always be with you, you will need to find a Sorceress' Knight. The Knight's job is to hold you to your sanity and personality, to prevent you from losing yourself to the power. The saying "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" is abundantly clear for Sorceresses. While Jenova and I can protect you somewhat, we cannot do it as well as a Knight can. You will have to find a Knight by the age of 18, or else your powers will surge out of control. Please think about this for a bit before you answer."

Naruto's shock was compounded by the thought of not only having the powers of an Ancient, but also that of a Grand Sorceress (A/N: I'm still calling him a Sorceress even though he's male, 'cause she's a Sorceress and is giving him power, therefore he's a Sorceress, not a Sorcerer. Plus it's funny.)

Jenova's voice brought him out of his shock, only to thrust him back into it once he realized what she was offering as well.

"Little one… I, too, would like you to carry on my legacy. My ability has no name, but it allows me absolute control over my cellular structure. While it sounds abstract in theory, think about the applications. You would be able to regenerate from even fatal wounds almost instantly. You would be able to melt yourself into a puddle of liquid, or freeze yourself into a block. You could increase the density of your skin cells, giving you literal nerves of steel. You would even be able to constantly move your organs around in your body, so that nobody would ever be able to predict where your vulnerable areas were. Of course, my favorite part is that you can grow tentacles out of your body for multitudes of reasons, from attacking, to movement, to defense. Unfortunately, if you accept my gift, you will never be able to die. You would be nigh-immortal. To change your cells to be like my cells makes them unnatural to the Lifestream, so you would never be able to be absorbed. If you were fatally wounded, even with my abilities, you would be dragged into the core of the planet to heal, before being rejected due to the alien nature of your body structure."

With all three of these gifts sitting in front of him, the poor four year old child did the only thing he could: faint.

His eyes rolled back into his head, and he passed out in the lap of Jenova, startling all three women before they burst out giggling at his predicament.

* * *

3 hours later…

After waking up, fainting again because he thought everything was a dream and waking up for a second time, Naruto asked for a little time alone to think about it all. About two hours later he walked back into the cage, where all three women were waiting patiently for his answer.

"I think I've come to a decision…"

His answer had all three, the Ancient, the Sorceress, and the Alien on the edge of their seats.

"I accept all three of the offers. However, I believe I'll need to go on a training trip to fully control the powers. I wouldn't want to accidentally cause the classroom in the Academy to explode because someone pissed me off…"

The three women glomped the poor boy, hugging him tightly with tears flowing out of their eyes. They were so overjoyed that he accepted the proposition that they didn't realize they were cutting off his air supply until he choked out a sentence.

"Can't…breathe…air…needed…"

All three hopped off, blushing a little. Aeris held out her staff to the boy, who took it with a slight bit of confusion in his eyes.

"It was my first staff, the Guard Stick. I carried it with me when I died, and it's now indestructible and will help you channel your Sorcery or Ancient powers through it. I may have something to fill in that indentation, but that'll have to wait. Perhaps a present for later?" She gave him a mischievous wink, which made him grin in return.

Both Jenova and Ultimecia discussed it with eachother for a little bit, before coming to a decision. Ultimecia stepped forward to tell him what to do so that they could give him the gifts.

"Sochi, to give you our gifts, you will have to tear off the seal. Doing so will allow us to walk freely. After you do that, we will become your Guardian Forces, living within your mind. Should you ever need to call on us for battle, just call us out, and we will exit and assist you in a fight. After you learn to fully control Jenova's ability, you will be able to create real bodies for us to live inside even when we aren't being summoned. If you ever need to talk to us, simply think it, and we will hear it. If you ever want to talk with us face to face, you simply have to meditate and we'll be here for you."

Jenova stepped forward next and smiled at him, gently stroking his hair.

"I'm afraid my gift won't be so easy to give you, little one. I have to reconstruct every cell of your body, which means you'll be in a coma for two weeks until it's done. After which, we'll go on our training trip. Is that alright with you?"

The lucky child just grinned in return, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. He walked up and gave each of them a big hug around their legs, almost bouncing with happiness.

"I'm not too happy with the coma… but I'm sure it won't be too bad. Can I stay here with you and Ultimecia-kaasan while I'm in the coma? And how will Aeris help me train? Isn't she needed in the Lifestream to keep the souls going smoothly?"

The question caught the Ancient off guard. She had forgotten that she was required to go back soon, so she pondered on it for a few moments before coming up with a solution.

"I can leave you scrolls on the different abilities and techniques the Ancients use. I'm sure you'll be able to read soon, so once you can, you can practice all you need. I'll come back on your fifteenth birthday to give you the final gifts I have for you."

The boy smiled and gave the Ancient another hug, nuzzling his face a little into the fabric of her pink dress.

"That sounds great! I'll miss you, though, Aeris…"

The girl simply picked up the child and hugged him close to her, gently patting the back of his head.

"Don't worry. I'll always be with you. When you wake up from the coma, simply envision the staff that I gave you, and it will be transported into your hand. It is bound to you, now, as it was bound to me. Nobody can ever take it from you."

Aeris gently set the boy back down and waved cheerily to the Sorceress, the blue skinned alien, and the ecstatic child. She lifted her hands and, in a flash of white-green, a stack of scrolls appeared. She set them on a bookshelf near the monitor, before heading back to Naruto.

"These are all the techniques and powers of the Ancients, as well as a little of our history. After you establish a link to the planet, you can ask the rest of them about their history. While most people are reincarnated, Ancients stay within the Lifestream to guide the souls. We may project our souls to the material world for a short time, as I have done here, but we are never truly revived. Good luck, Naruto-kun, and congratulations on finally finding people that accept you."

With that said, the green eyed Ancient smiled and gently tapped Naruto's forehad, causing his eyes to flash the same color green as hers before she disappeared in a flash of green, leaving only the Blessings of the Ancients to Naruto, and a feeling of tranquility in her wake. Jenova nodded to Ultimecia, who released the Stop spell on the seal, allowing time to continue traveling at a normal pace. Jenova picked up the emotionally drained boy, leaning the staff against the bookshelf, and sat down on a chair with Naruto in her lap to watch the outside world.

* * *

In the real world…

The Hokage appeared in a flash of smoke, and, seeing the mob attacking the child, called his ANBU. They quickly broke up the mob, taking some into custody. Quite a few of the ANBU seemed to turn a blind eye to the offenders, which the Hokage didn't seem to notice. He picked up the bloodied blond boy, sadness sparkling in his eyes as he rushed to the hospital. A soft mumble was unheard to everyone else, but heard to those listening in the seal.

"Minato-kun… it seems I have failed in protecting your legacy. Please forgive me, Minato-kun."

* * *

In the seal…

Jenova and Ultimecia were shocked. Naruto was simply sad. Ultimecia summed it up pretty well in her own words, nearly spat out with enough venom to poison Orochimaru.

"You ask Minato for forgiveness, but you don't care about his son, do you, Sandaime-_sama_." The suffix was almost suffocating in mockery and disrespect. Naruto bowed his head, sniffling a little at the news.

"Ojii-san didn't really care about me… he just didn't want to fail my father… nobody outside you two and Aeris-neechan see me as anything but me. The villagers see me as Kyuubi, Ojii-san sees me as the Yondaime's legacy, and quite a few of the ninja probably see me only as the Kyuubi Container."

At that moment, Ultimecia lost her cool. Her eyes flashed a glowing gold color, the light no longer restricted to the iris, leaving her eyes as nothing but glowing golden orbs of color. She turned away from the monitor and materialized a large target dummy, obliterating it with Apocalypse to vent her anger at. She finally calmed down, the light in her eyes receding to the iris before fading completely, leaving her eyes back to normal.

"That bastard…" Was all she seemed to say, not even acknowledging the fact that she materialized a target dummy and vaporized it in the same breath. Naruto was caught between awe and fear at his kaasan's power, looking up at Jenova with a deadpan expression.

"Ultimecia-kaasan is scary, Jenova-kaasan."

Jenova nodded numbly, a little in awe of both the stupidity of the village, and the power of her 'roommate'. She looked down at her son and smiled a little, poking his nose with a fingertip.

"Little one, why don't you remove the seal so we can work on giving you our gifts?"

Naruto giggled a little, before nodding and hopping off of Jenova's lap. He jogged back to the cage bars, scaling up them easily from all his practice escaping villagers. He reached up for the seal and swiftly tore it off the bars, falling back to the ground as the cage simply disappeared into thin air without the seal to hold it. Ultimecia held out her hands and caught him in a gentle embrace before walking back to the chair and setting him in her lap to continue watching. She gently tapped both his temples, changing the boy's iris color to a permanent gold like her own.

Jenova smiled and walked over, gently tapping his stomach where the seal used to be, causing a slight tingling sensation not unlike pins and needles to race through his entire body. She then walked off, calling over her shoulder with a smile.

"Little one, I'll be reconstructing your body for the next two weeks, so I'll leave you under the care of Ultimecia. She can teach you to control your emotions a little better since there's nothing else to do for now. I'll return when I'm done, so be safe, and don't blow anything up."

The boy grinned cheekily at her, sitting in her abandoned seat across from Ultimecia, ready to learn fine control to assist with his newfound abilities.

* * *

Real world…

The Hokage had walked into the hospital room dedicated to Naruto, only to see no sign of the boy. Instead, in his place was a child about the same age, the same golden skin, but everything else seemed… off. His hair was now a translucent silver-white, and was no longer spiky, but fell flat against his head. It was about shoulder length, and was almost ethereal set against the boy's tan.

The aged Hokage walked forward and gently lifted one of the boy's eyelids, stumbling backwards when a golden iris was revealed. He looked at the boy's charts, which said "Uzumaki Naruto". The old man pulled out his pipe and sat in a chair, smoking a bit as he pondered the cause of the changes. He wondered if, possibly, the fox had broken free of its bonds and was destroying the child. That thought lasted only long enough to remember the fox had blood red fur, not white. He then wondered if perhaps it was a new bloodline emerging. Uzumaki Kushina never showed a bloodline, but neither did Namikaze Minato… perhaps one of them had a dormant bloodline? He'd have to talk with the council about this. He left the hospital room, missing the eye opening, flashing a bright gold, and then closing again to resume the coma.

* * *

Council Room…

The clan heads, the village elders, and the civilian council were all assembled to ponder on this new change with Konoha's resident Jinchuuriki.

"Golden eyes and ethereal white hair, Hokage-sama? That sounds like no recorded bloodline I've ever heard of." Hyuuga Hiashi was the first to offer his opinion on the matter. He really didn't hold any particular grudge against the boy; he was purely neutral and acted as the voice of logic against the biased members of the Council.

"The demon must be escaping! Kill it while it's weak!" Were the screams of the village council members, all non-shinobi. A few shinobi were also nodding their heads to the yells, however… like the Haruno clan head.

Danzo, however, had other… more nefarious… ideas.

"Hokage-sama, with your permission, I would like to enlist Naruto-kun into my Ne (Root) forces. He would make an excellent weapon for the village, especially if he does have a new bloodline."

The Hokage narrowed his eyes in suspicion at his old rival. His Ne forces were directly subordinate to the disabled shinobi, and could be used against him…

"I believe we should wait until the boy awakens to see if he truly has a new bloodline, or if it is, by chance, just another act of the villagers to attack him." Were his words on the matter.

After a few hours of deliberating, they all agreed to meet again when Naruto woke up, to discuss the boy's…changes.

* * *

Two weeks later…

A nurse burst into the Hokage's office, panting a little from the run, her cheeks flushed. She gasped out a sentence that had the aged man using **Shunshin (Body Flicker) **to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

"The de…boy… has awakened, Hokage-sama!"

* * *

The Hospital…

Naruto was sitting calmly on the edge of the hospital bed, waiting for the Hokage to appear so that he could hurry up and leave the village for eleven years.

'_Hopefully they'll forget that I ever existed once I'm gone… I think I'll reject my last name, seeing as how neither of you have one nor remember one, Ultimecia-kaasan, Jenova-kaasan. I'd rather carry your names instead of some woman that either died after giving birth to me, or ran off, believing her child to be the "demon boy".'_

Jenova's voice murmured inside his head, tired from her task of reconstructing his body from scratch.

'_Don't worry, little one. We can simply call you Naruto, instead of Uzumaki Naruto, if you'd like. Be wary of your Hokage, young one, for I fear he may try to interrogate you about your newest changes. If he does try, allow one of us to take control so that we might escape. However, remind him that we will be back in 11 years' time.'_

Naruto gave a slight mental nod, debating whether or not to even discuss it when he got back. He could pass it off as a bloodline, he supposed, but then he'd be recognized not as Naruto, but as 'that new bloodline'. Yet another label he'd be recognized by instead of himself. His attention was diverted by a 'poof' of smoke in his room, the Hokage appearing with a wary glint in his eyes.

"Naruto-kun… is that you?"

The boy simply gave an uncaring shrug to the man, his golden eyes flicking to meet the aged Hokage's brown eyes.

"Of course it's me, Hokage-sama. Who else would be in the "demon's" hospital room?"

The cold tone spoken by the four year old shocked Sarutobi, almost taking a physical step back from the cold, apathetic golden eyes focused on him. He tried to reassert authority, so that the child wouldn't object to having to go with him. He was greatly unnerved at how the boy didn't yell out "OJII-SAN!" and tackle him right away.

"Naruto-kun… I'm afraid we have to go to the Council to discuss your…changes."

The boy's gaze intensified, and Sarutobi could've sworn that the room temperature dropped a few degrees as the cold eyes seemed to frost over with a glare. His voice was level, cold, and indifferent. Nothing that a four year old should possess.

"No thank you Hokage-_sama_." The suffix was spat with so much venom the Hokage really did take a step back. "I am going on an eleven year training trip. I will not be back until the day of the Genin exams. Is that acceptable, or will I have to circumvent your authority and escape on my own?"

The Hokage was almost positive this wasn't the same child he knew only a little over two weeks ago… well… he didn't really know him… he just kind of watched through a crystal ball.

The aged man was almost sure it had to be part of the seal that broke, seeing as how he was never like this before the mob. Surely the near-death experience must have broken part of the seal?

The Sandaime looked over the boy suspiciously. He had changed a bit more within the two weeks he was hospitalized. The normally round cheeks had thinned out, giving the boy an aristocratic face with high cheekbones. The ethereal white silver hair was even longer, stopping just below his shoulderblades, with two locks falling on either side of his face and just past his chin. The boy was a few inches taller, too, evening out around 4'3", pretty tall for a four year old.

"Naruto, I need you to lift your shirt for me. I'm going to check on something."

The boy's glare seemed to drop the room's temperature even more, and the Sandaime could've sworn his breath rose in a mist. The child's tone chilled him to the bone, as he stood up from the hospital bed and walked slowly up to the Hokage. The boy's eyes started to glow a faint gold, startling the aged man.

"I think not, Hokage-_sama_. I removed the seal. Did you know what I found out? There was no Kyuubi. I was treated like trash my entire life for something that died hours after the sealing." The Hokage's eyes widened to the size of small plates at the news. The Kyuubi was dead?

"Yes. The Kyuubi is dead. It has been since a few hours after the sealing. Since you won't let me go willingly, I'm forced to escape on my own. You cannot send hunter-nin after me. I'm not a shinobi. You cannot send ANBU after me. They aren't sent on recovery missions of _civilians_, Hokage-_sama_." The boy simply walked over to the wall, letting Ultimecia take over Naruto's body as he was about a foot away from it. She looked over Naruto's shoulder, giving the man the coldest glare possible without flash freezing the water vapor in the air.

"I'll be back in eleven years, Hokage-_sama_." With that last biting remark, the boy walked through the wall, causing a rippling effect on the wall that one would see if they dropped a rock into water, and then he was gone.

"_What am I going to tell the Council?"_ Was the one thought running through Sarutobi's head.

* * *

Council Room…

"The demon escaped?!"

"Capture it!"

"Kill the demon!"

"Don't let it get away!"

Were just a few exclamations that followed after Sandaime's grave news. Most were from the civilian side… but he could've sworn he heard a few ninja clan heads yelling too.

Danzo, however, was fascinated by the ability the boy seemed to display.

"He walked _through_ the wall and disappeared? Was it genjutsu? Ninjutsu? A bloodline?"

The Hokage sighed wearily, rubbing at his temples as he answered the question, shocking everyone in the room.

"No chakra was used. It was neither a genjutsu or a ninjutsu. I'm not sure about the bloodline, though… we'll just have to wait until he returns to ask him. Hopefully he'll be more forthcoming with his information when he arrives for the Genin exams."

Danzo's mouth curled up into a sinister grin.

"_Soon, Naruto-kun… either you will work for me, or you will be…eliminated."_

* * *

Author's Note: Yes, Naruto's going to be godlike. It'll take him awhile to get control over it, though. Basically, he's going to make med-nins look sloppy. His control will have to be so fine that he could make a 1 mm by 1 mm by 1 mm cube out of ice and hit a bulls-eye 100 feet away. How else could he be able to use his powers without destroying entire cities?

Also, I'll probably bash Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, Sandaime (though he will redeem himself later, I'm sure), Jiraiya, perhaps even a little Tsunade. I really wanted to smack Jiraiya for referring to Naruto as 'the container', and how a lot of fanfictions overuse the whole "I'm so sorry Minato-kun/sensei. I'll train your child in your memory. Let's craft rainbows!" approach. _My_ Naruto simply wants to be recognized for who he is, not for his abilities, not for his parents, not for anything but him as a person.

Brownie points if you can guess what's going into the one slot of the Guard Stick!

Reviews are greatly appreciated. I wrote this chapter so soon 'cause I knew I had to actually get into the story or else it wasn't worth the "Naruto" category.

Next chapter: Training


	3. Training

Author's Note: I wasn't able to sleep well, so I decided to write this. I'll try to update either every day, or every three days. Only days that are exempt are Tuesdays. I tried to squish eleven years into 8,000 words, so expect some choppiness. I have no patience to spend more than one chapter on training. Some Zabuza/Naruto action near the end. It's raining men...hallelujah.

**AnsemMesna**: Eh, I suppose I can bash Kakashi for his training favoritism, and Sasuke for his angsty revenge curve, but I'll straighten them out. I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do with those two. As for Sandaime, like I said, he'll probably redeem himself. Jiraiya... that guy is and always will be an idiot. He trained canon Naruto for 2.5 years, yet most of what he taught him was how to further rely on the Kyuubi's youki. Wow. I think he deserves a golf clap for his enthusiasm in his student's teaching. Now he's on par or worse than Sasuke on relying on other's help. I truly like Tsunade, so I'll probably bash her a little verbally to get her to SEE THE LIGHT! As for Sakura... I'm going to have SO much fun fucking with her. Only since the Genin exams are 3 years later in my story, she'll be older, but retains the same personality. The pink banshee shall be bashed until the cows come home! Kukuku...

"Talking"

'_Thoughts'_

"**Technique/Spell/Jutsu"**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the Final Fantasy series, or any of their characters. Rawr.

* * *

Training

Naruto appeared about fifteen miles out in the middle of the Konoha forest, slipping out of a tree with the same ripple effect that he disappeared with. He searched around a little, making sure he was alone, before sitting at the base of the tree and speaking in his mind.

'_Ultimecia-kaasan, will that happen every time that I do that? It felt odd… kind of like a liquid form of whatever I stepped into/out of brushing against my skin. It's kind of creepy when you feel something that feels like liquid bark brushing against you.'_

The Sorceress simply laughed in his mind, and he could've sworn he could _feel_ the smirk coming from her.

'_Don't worry about it, sochi. It does happen every time, however… with all the training you'll be going through, you'll forget all about that odd sensation in favor of Ultimecia and Jenova's Training Bootcamp of Doom (patented by yours truly). We'll be starting as soon as Jenova wakes up… I think I can hear her snoring. Until then, though, I want you to meditate and try to find your magical core. Once you find it, I want you to memorize every aspect of it. The texture, the feelings associated, the smell, anything that is memorable about it. You need to be able to contact it on instinct, otherwise spells will be useless due to taking too long to prepare.'_

The boy paled considerably at the sound of the training's title. He sent a mental acknowledgement to his kaasan, and held in a chuckle as a particularly loud snore accompanied with a snuffle echoed in his mind, Jenova turning over while sleeping on a couch near the monitor.

He calmed his mind and thoughts, sorting through all the emotions and delving deep within his soul, searching for his magical core. After much prodding and poking around, he found it about fifteen minutes later, silently shocking the Sorceress.

'_Amazing… it took me two hours to find mine…' _she thought to herself, taking a look along with her son at his magical core.

To Naruto, his core felt like soft snow, and if he would envision it, he would probably say it felt like a marble sized snowball. It felt almost… pure in a way. Like nothing had ever tainted it. The feel of it was cool to his mental touches, instantly calming him as he made contact with it. It radiated a sense of peace and safety from within him as it pulsed gently.

Further investigation of his core brought him deep into his meditation, deeper than where the seal was located. He opened his eyes, looking around at the new scenery. He was caught in a light snowstorm, yet he wasn't cold in the least. As he turned all around to take in the environment, he realized he was in a forest filled with white trees. They almost seemed dead, yet not… almost… sleeping, if possible. The snow was unable to cling to any of the branches, so it fell to a light layer on the ground. Naruto walked up to one of the trees and laid a gentle hand on the trunk, only to step back in amazement. The tree seemed to almost hum with untapped energy, as if it were a guardian in the midst of slumber. He walked slowly throughout the Sleeping Forest (Hah! Kudos to those who realized where he was) until he came upon a large pedestal in the middle of a clearing. It was surrounded on all sides by a deep, clear lake and the only way to reach the pedestal was to hop across a few smaller stepping stones up to the main area. He jumped slowly and carefully across the stones, before reaching the pedestal and looked all around. A slight shimmer in the air forced him to look up, and he watched with wide eyes as he saw an image suspended in the air.

It was Aeris, kneeling and praying in an area that greatly resembled the same pedestal he stood on. As he watched her pray, he noticed a spiky blond guy come up in front of her, raise his sword, and almost bring it down on her head before backing up and clutching his head. Naruto continued to watch as a slight white-green glow started emanating from within Aeris' pink bow. She lifted her head up to gaze at the blonde man with a slight smile on her face, causing Naruto to smile as well. Her smiles were almost contagious. The four year old looked on in horror as a tall, silver haired man descended from the air and stabbed a nodachi exceeding six feet in length through Aeris' lower back and stomach, before pulling it out and letting her fall forward. The last thing Naruto saw before the image cut out was a small green marble escape Aeris' bow, glowing a bright white-green as it bounced down the stepping stones into the water.

As the image faded, a small item dropped from above Naruto, halting it's descent in front of his face and floating in midair. He reached out to touch it, and gasped in shock as it felt exactly like his magical core! Closer inspection of what he believed to be a tiny snowball showed that it was actually a multifaceted gem, with a multitude of colors splayed across its surface. Each color seemed to feel like something different. He felt the soothing cold of the snowstorm in the forest when he touched a light blue color, he could feel the passage of time and space when he tapped a dark violet color, a feeling of pure power from the green color, and tingling warmth from a pure white color. All of the colors seemed to blend together at the edges, leaving no hint of where one color began and the other ended. He inspected it for awhile longer before he got up to leave. Before he hopped back across the stepping stones to the forest below, he knelt on the altar-pedestal and prayed for Aeris, hoping her sacrifice wasn't put to waste.

As he bounded back to the forest, he realized that Ultimecia was calling for him, and brought his mind back from the deep meditative state he had fallen into to hear her worried calls.

'_Naruto! Are you alright? You're not supposed to delve that deeply into your core yet! Please come back…'_

He was startled by the amount of emotion that she was showing, seeing as how normally the woman was indifferent, only showing a slight bit of warmth to him, but never this much worry.

'_Ultimecia-kaasan? I think I found my core…'_

This statement, of course, prompted a rather long discussion of the dangers of slipping into deep meditation without first warning one of his kaasans so that they could protect him if he were caught unawares.

After a thorough description of his core, and what he saw there, he stood back up, noting absently that over three hours had passed since he had started meditating, and started to wander further into the forest to set up camp, ready to train his small body to the brink for the next decade or so.

* * *

The next day…

After waking up, collecting some fruits and berries that were deemed non-poisonous by both his kaasans, and washing up, Naruto was ready for the training.

They decided that his training with Ultimecia would start first, starting with learning how to read fluently while tapping into the energies of each facet of his core.

'_While Jenova and I start teaching you how to read, I want you to focus on our task while using your subconscious to pull small tendrils of power from each facet of your core, one by one. Really small tendrils. Think hair thin. Let the hellish control exercises commence!'_

* * *

One month later…

Naruto had learned how to read quite fluently and was now studying the scrolls that Aeris had left him. While doing so, he was doing the next step of Ultimecia's control exercises: punch a tree, and hit every single leaf that falls with a tendril of power, alternating between Time and Space, Ice, Force, and Pure Magic. The poor leaves were in for quite a rough day, though their reactions to the magic were quite interesting. The ones tapped with the Time and Space tendrils would slow down or hasten their descent, the Ice ones would freeze over in a light rim frost, the Force ones would either be blown off course or would explode in _'pretty colors'_ as Naruto adequately described it, while the Pure Magic ones would do a multitude of things, ranging from incinerating, becoming drenched, having small lightning sparks play across it, and one even evaporated in a green mist.

Ultimecia's exercises were quite… intense… but they were required for him to get a good grasp on his Sorceress powers. As she had said before, _'Once you can successfully call upon the essence of any one of your powers at will and on instinct, you'll never be caught unawares by others.' _

Her exercises were also required for Jenova's abilities. The ability to mold your cells to your will requires extreme amounts of control, so he would have to be able to cast basic spells at will without halting before he could start to learn her abilities.

* * *

Three months later…

Naruto had learned all of the basic level spells, and was still working on molding the pure essence of his different elements to his will without a spoken word. Ultimecia had applauded his perseverance, stating that the easier it is for him to mold the pure essence of his magic, the quicker, more powerful, and more controlled his spells would be. He was currently trying to establish a link to the Planet, so that he might be able to talk to Aeris.

He knelt in the middle of a small clearing of trees, clearing his mind and trying to project his thoughts down to the planet's core. What he didn't realize was that flowers were beginning to bloom around him, and the closer that he got to the Lifestream, the larger the bloom was. He finally was able to make contact, which he was sure of, seeing as how he could hear a gentle murmur in the background and could feel a pulse, like a heartbeat, coming from below him. A soft voice interrupted his thoughts, almost making him jump for joy.

'_Naruto-kun? I see you've been able to reach me here within the Planet. Congratulations! From now on, you will be able to talk with the souls of the deceased, should you choose to. The link is absolutely permanent, from the time you initiate it to the time you die.'_

After relaying the news to Jenova and Ultimecia, who sent waves of happiness through his mind, along with what he could swear felt like both of them doing a victory dance, he went back to his training, resolving to only talk to Aeris when he really needed her, seeing as how she was busy being a sheepherder to souls and all.

* * *

Eight months later (Age 5)…

After mastering the next level of spells, Naruto's control had shot through the roof. He could probably pass a Genin or a Chuunin in pure control. Today was his birthday, October tenth, and his kaasans knew just what to get him.

From Jenova, he learned he was going to learn her ability starting the next day, since his control is good enough for the more straightforward abilities of the cell manipulation.

From Ultimecia, she boosted his magic levels a little higher in all areas, telling him it was time for the first Transformation of the Sorceress.

'_Sochi, your studies in magic have come far, and I believe you're ready for the first of three transformations of the Sorceress. Every Sorceress goes through at least one, depending on how powerful they become. The strongest, like me, have gone through all three. The first will boost your physical strength as you get older, as well as some cosmetic changes. For instance, your lip color might change, or your fingernails might sharpen.' _

'_Ultimecia-kaasan, why would a Sorceress need physical strength? I thought we mainly blasted enemies away with our magic?'_

He could swear the evilness of her smirk would have made Orochimaru squeal like a schoolgirl and run away crying.

'_Sochi… I never told you just how physically powerful Sorceresses are, have I? Sorceress Adel was one of the strongest, and she was able to backhand her enemies away from her without ever having to waste time casting a spell. I believe her best record was a finger flick that not only completely liquefied the poor man's skull, but also sent him flying over a hundred feet before he smashed into a wall.'_

Naruto shuddered at the thought, before grinning evilly in response.

'_Can I do that too, Ultimecia-kaasan? Pleeeeeaaaaaase?'_

The Grand Sorceress was powerless to stop the chibified Naruto, watery puppy eyes and all, so she did the only thing she could do: summon herself into the material realm and squeeze him senseless with a bone breaking hug.

"Awww… I'm sure you'll be able to do that. But first! Let the Sorceress Transformation begin!"

With that said, she disappeared back into his mind to start off the transformation. Seeing as how he wouldn't be able to do much until the change was complete, he meditated some more and talked with Jenova on how cellular manipulation would be.

'_I'm sure that the phasing ability you have used will have nothing on the absolute weirdness that cellular manipulation invokes on the user. Whenever I mold my cells into tentacles to attack my enemies, it feels like my body is stretching like taffy. Moving vital organs around your body to avoid fatal damage is very disorienting as well. However, the first thing we're going to work on is compressing and molding your muscle tissue and joints. We're going to make you more flexible, and compound the physical strength your Sorceress powers will give you.'_

The Transformation took about an hour, and when Naruto looked at his reflection in a nearby lake, he grinned wide. His lips had changed into a blue color to match that of Jenova, and he could see the beginnings of tattoos forming on his face, and if the odd itching feeling he was getting down his chest and legs, he would hazard a guess that they were beginning there, too. His fingernails had sharpened a little, but not too much, so they weren't dangerous… yet.

After testing his physical strength by punching a tree, causing it to shake violently before toppling over, he went back to his training.

* * *

Three years later (Age 8)…

Over the past three years, Naruto had worked harder and harder on all his different abilities. He was currently working on learning the powerful –aga spells, and was staying far away from the Forbidden magic. He wasn't quite ready for it yet until he was older. He was now able to manipulate his bone structure and muscular structure, and had hardened his bones to make them almost unbreakable, while compressing the musculature to make his body very lithe in build.

He was about 5'3" now, his hair reaching down to his lower back. He wouldn't allow it to grow farther than that, saying any farther and it may be a liability either in sitting down or in a battle. He had moved from the Konoha forest after a Genin team nearly discovered him, and was now living within the Forest of Death. The only person that ever went there was _'that crazy snake-like lady'_ as he called her, Mitarashi Anko.

He had a near run in with her when she was having her 'playtime' as she called it in the Forest. He was meditating at the base of a tree while flaring his different elements at intervals at anything that came close. She had caught him unawares, and his Time and Space magic flared in response, putting her into a stasis as he made his escape by phasing through thin air to appear a few miles away. Yet, even that far away wasn't enough to escape the enraged yell that echoed through the forest, scaring birds in a large diameter.

"WHO THE FUCK PARALYZED ME?! I'LL FEED THEM TO MY SNAKES!"

Naruto had also started to learn how to use his staff in combat. The blunt force and large reach, coupled with his insane strength were quite a combination. Thankfully, Ultimecia knew a little about the staff, so she was helping him create a fighting style.

* * *

Three years later (Age 11)…

Naruto heavily studied anatomy with both Ultimecia and Jenova after a (slight) mishap where he messed up his cell manipulation and happened to create tentacles with eyeballs on them on accident. Jenova thought it was interesting, and thought it might help in combat if he could find a way to make sure the eyeball wouldn't be a weakness, seeing as how the sensitivity would be a crippling failure. He had studied the human body in such great detail to the point where he could hit a target from fifty feet away, in the center of the bull's-eye with an ice senbon with a one hundred percent accuracy rate.

He was applying his knowledge of anatomy to further his control in his healing abilities, as well as his destructive capabilities. He could cast a Fire spell and have it burn from the inside out of a target's vital organs, instead of being restricted to simply trying to set them on fire. He was able to replicate Aeris' Healing Wind ability, if only barely. It really wasn't for combat, unlike hers. He would flow the healing aspect of his primal magic affinity through a weak wind current, and bend the wind to his will to make sure every part of the body was healed equally. He also recreated her Breath of the Earth ability, supercharging his hands with healing magic and sending shock waves through the body to burn away all negative effects. Unfortunately, it was a rather jarring process to the body, and the person would have to spend a day in bed for their immune system to stabilize from going from "sick" mode to "absolutely fine" mode.

He was making great strides in his Time and Space magic, being able to adjust the Stop spell to recreate Aeris' Seal Evil ability. He would weave a web with one, binding the full body with it, while he compressed a second Stop spell that would halt the vocal chords from working for a longer time than the first Stop would hold, effectively negating any calls for help.

His Force magic was coming along well. He was careful to stay away from the highly destructive Flare spell, and was working on applying Force as a barrier, something that Adel never thought about. He was currently able to create a moderately powerful Protect spell, able to stop falling trees, thrown kunai, or as he recently found out, a cat named Tora on a warpath. That last one was severely straining the power of the spell, though, so he had to escape before the cat could break through.

His Primal Magic manipulation was also coming along well, able to cast the –aga spells about three times a day before they tired him out. He was currently working on a theory with Ultimecia on the possibility of compressing them into a smaller area to increase the devastation against a single target. Instead of flash freezing the surface of a thirty foot diameter before shattering it, completely freezing a smaller, six foot diameter area, inside and out so that the shatter would, at the very least, cause internal damage.

His Ice manipulation was by far his best aspect. He no longer needed to say the name of the spell; he could simply mold the magic into whatever form he needed. Words were unnecessary, and his creativity was the only limit to what he could do with ice. He frequently juggled large pointy ice objects in the air and flung them at each other, trying to hit the very tips of the objects, so that he might be able to deflect or block thrown weapons with replicas made out of ice.

He had also begun to experience some rather odd dreams, which he joined Jenova in being absolutely baffled by. Ultimecia, however, had a hard time keeping her maniacal laughter to herself whenever the subject was brought up. She finally conceded to telling him what it was about once he turns thirteen.

* * *

Two years later (Age 13)…

Naruto had grown up quite well from all his training. His hair was just as soft and shiny as Jenova's, with odd metallic silver streaks through it, courtesy of his second Sorceress Transformation. His golden eyes had gotten a little brighter, yet were frosted over with a perpetual apathetic look. His emotions had to be under complete control until he could find a knight. Not even a sneeze could make him lose his iron hold on his emotions, or else something was liable to explode from his magic. The tattoos that started from his first transformation were growing to look like an almost exact duplicate of Ultimecia's, from the facial zigzags to the almost tribal designs making their way down his legs. Unlike Ultimecia's, though, his were all colored different shades of grey. They weren't completely finished forming, either. The zigzags stopped about two thirds of the way down his face, showing that he still needed another Sorceress Transformation to complete them.

He was about 5'8" now, as tall as Ultimecia. His body would be one that would be seen on either a dancer or a swimmer, with lean muscle all over. He finally was able to improve his control on Jenova's Cell Manipulation techniques, and used that to create his own clothes, saying that _'I don't trust those women in the clothing stores to take my measurements without copping a feel.' _His attire consisted of a black loose-fitting silken gi, with wide sleeves that ended just after his fingertips, hiding them from view to surprise enemies. He could also conjure ice elemental weapons into his hands and hide them while in their sleeves, adding another surprise. His pants were a pair of black hakama, ending just above his feet, which were barefoot, for good reason.

After his second Sorceress Transformation, his fingers became longer, the nails sharper to the point where they could be classified as claws. They extended about an inch past the fingertip. His tattoos had lengthened, his physical and magical strengths were amplified, and his connection to the Planet had been strengthened. He could now channel the Lifestream in a passable imitation of Aeris' Pulse of Life technique to regenerate even the most grievous of wounds, but the exposure to the Lifestream, even if only barely, would force him to only use the ability once a week, due to danger of Mako Poisoning if he used it more often. A final change to the Transformation was that his toenails became as sharp and as pointed as his fingernails, eliminating the possibility of shoes, or even sandals.

Naruto was wandering through the country of Mist, saying he needed to explore areas outside of a forest and see how different environments affect his spell casting capability. When Jenova questioned him about why they were going to Mist, Ultimecia finally broke down giggling uncontrollably at Naruto's answer.

'_I don't know… I just feel as if something or someone is calling me there.'_

Of course, she finally broke down and told him what his feeling was about when he threatened her with walking through a populated town. The absolute terror that is fangirls, as well as the lesser known terror know as fanboys, would be all over him.

'_Your dreams and instincts are guiding you to your most likely candidate for a Sorceress Knight, sochi. If you follow the feeling long enough, you will meet him or her… I guess this would be a good time to give you… __**"The Talk"**__. You see, when a man loves a man, or a woman loves a woman, or a man loves a woman, or whatever…'_

About three hours later after profuse blushing, perverse comments from Jenova, maniacal laughter from Ultimecia, and a slight nosebleed, Naruto had "The Talk" down. But he was confused about one thing…

'_Ultimecia-kaasan, why are you telling this to me now?'_

The perverse giggle from Jenova, _feeling _her lecherous smirk, and the slight snicker from Ultimecia in his head set off warning bells and sirens, telling him he really shouldn't have asked…

'_Little known fact about Sorceress Knights is that they are usually in a… rather intimate… relationship with their Sorceress. I hope they're attractive, sochi… I think Adel killed her Knight because he was an ugly, fat man with an unnerving fetish for gelatin.'_

Naruto shuddered violently at the implications, praying to the Planet that he wouldn't get an ugly Knight. He prayed so hard that it actually went through the link, causing Aeris and the other Ancients to break out into hysterical laughter.

* * *

Six months later (Age 13.5)…

Naruto was following the maddening instinct to keep walking in a certain direction, tempted to just teleport as far as he could to see if it got him any closer, when he finally ran across two people.

One was a rather androgynous looking individual, about his age or a year older. They had long, sleek black hair and were wearing a rather effeminate pink kimono with flower patterns. They were currently picking a few herbs off the ground, which his mind immediately supplied as medicinal in nature. They were a few inches shorter than Naruto, and moved with the grace of one trained for fighting, yet he could tell the person was more of a pacifist and a healer by nature.

The second was most definitely a man, given the fact that he was only wearing a vest over his shirtless torso, with grey-black shinobi pants and a pair of blue shinobi sandals. He had bandages wound around the lower half of his face, seemingly as a makeshift mask. His torso and chest were also heavily bandaged, though the lack of redness indicated the wounds were closed. He gave a violent mental shudder when Ultimecia piped up, telling him that, though Adel was a woman, she looked like a seven foot tall purple tinged muscular man. The man looked to be around late teens to early twenties, and was leaning against a large zanbato, about six feet in length and about one in width. Some kanji near the handle labeled it as Kubikiri Houcho (Head Chopping Cleaver).

Naruto gave a slight start as he realized the feeling ended in this clearing, meaning one of the two were great candidates to be his Knight. He announced his presence by snapping a twig underfoot, causing both to whip their heads around in his direction as he stepped out of the tree line, holding his hands up in a peaceful gesture.

"I do not come here to harm you. I was following an instinct I had and it led me here."

Both narrowed their eyes in suspicion, the androgynous one moving forward to stand in a defensive position in front of the larger man. The larger man winced a little as he picked up his sword, some bandages previously started to redden as wounds were reopened.

The androgynous one spoke first, an edge in their soft voice which, unfortunately, didn't give away their gender yet. Naruto gave a mental snicker as Jenova muttered a _'Damn.' _and glared at Ultimecia who had bet that the voice would be just as androgynous as the rest.

"Who are you, and why are you here?"

Naruto sat down next to a tree trunk, not making any sudden movements to provoke the pair. He answered as he sat down, hands shifting back into their sleeves before either person could realize his… condition.

"Like I said. I came here on an instinct. Something here was calling to me, and I've been following the damn annoying thing like a beacon for the past half year. It seems to end here, so I guess it would have to be one of you two that were calling out to me."

Both people looked thoroughly confused at the tattooed teen's answer, but before they could ask, the larger one gave out a hacking cough and fell to his knees, coughing up blood into his bandage-mask.

The androgynous one gave a panicked cry, running over to the large man and trying the best they could to help heal the wounds with what limited medical knowledge they knew.

"Zabuza-san! You should be resting! Your wounds have reopened…"

Naruto stood up and glided soundlessly across the clearing, kneeling down next to the man. At such a close range, he could tell the man was nearly fatally wounded, so he did the one thing he could: he started to concentrate, the wind picking up around him into a gentle zephyr as he poured shimmering white healing magic through the wind to heal the man's wounds. Both Zabuza and the still-unnamed androgynous one looked up in shock as Naruto's eyes glowed softly, the white wind easily regenerating all the lost flesh.

Naruto gave a wry smile as both of them turned to him, showing off his larger than normal canines. His eyes stopped glowing as he sat back on the grass, feet hidden skillfully by the hakama so as to not shock them.

"Like I said. Something was calling for me to come here."

Both people were shell shocked that, not only did this stranger seem to home in on them like a hound, but he came simply on instinct and healed Zabuza without even asking why he was wounded. The larger man spoke first with a gruff, powerful voice, carefully unwinding the bandage mask and showing off his rather pointy teeth.

"Haku, I think he really doesn't mean to hurt us… although…how were you able to heal me like that? Not even med-nins can heal that quickly or precisely. There's not even a scar!"

Haku nodded his head, sitting back near Zabuza to listen to what Naruto was going to say, checking all the bandages to make sure none of the wounds were left unhealed.

"Well, my name is Naruto, and you," he pointed an elegant, clawed fingertip at the larger man, "are Zabuza of the Mist, correct? And you, I would presume, are Haku?" he pointed at the androgynous boy next, who nodded politely with a small smile.

The man nodded numbly, staring openly at Naruto's fingers, or more precisely, the fingernails.

"Well, I suppose I owe you both an explanation. You see, I'm one of the last of my kind. We were known as Sorceresses. Yes. Even the male ones. Anyway. You may have heard of our kind before?"

Zabuza and Haku both had wide eyes as they stared at the teen, nodding a bit and inching away a little, since all that they heard about Sorceresses was the stereotype, and the event of Time Compression was caused by a Sorceress.

Naruto gave a sad smile at the two, placing both his hands into his sleeves and settling back against a nearby tree to get ready to tell a simplified version of the story.

"Well, not all you heard was good, I'm positive. However, I must tell you both that almost no Sorceresses are evil. Misjudged, yes, but not ever truly evil. Time Compression was cast by a Sorceress who wanted to prevent the judgmental nature of humanity from affecting any more Sorceresses. She had grown up hated and despised for simply being who she was. I suppose you could liken it to the Bloodline Wars, only much more concentrated. Most Sorceresses start out good, but either lose themselves to their power, or to the pressure of society. However, since there hasn't been a Sorceress in a long time, I'm almost positive nobody would remember much of us. Just the event of Time Compression, I suppose. Anyway, I'm getting off track… I am a Sorceress, and I was following my instincts to find a Knight. Do you know what a Sorceress' Knight is?"

Both Haku and Zabuza looked quite confused at this, screwing up their faces in concentration as they tried to remember anything on the subject. Surprisingly, it was Zabuza's gruff voice that spoke first, still slightly suspicious at the golden eyed teen.

"Aren't they the ones who help guard the Sorceress?"

Naruto's eyes sparkled mischeviously, and both nins were sure they weren't going to like the answer…

"Yes, they do help guard the Sorceress, but their main job is actually more of a support beam. I'm sure you heard the saying 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely'? The saying holds very true for Sorceresses. A Knight is their support to lean on, and helps them hold onto their original personality and goals, not allowing them to become corrupted. On a side note, they're usually… intimate… with the Sorceress."

Haku blushed a deep red at the last part, while Zabuza snickered a little with a slight perverse blush across the bridge of his nose.

"Due to my… unusual… circumstances, I'll be able to go Knight-less until I'm 18, but then my powers will start to rage out of control. My instincts led me here, and probably to you, Zabuza, to find a good candidate for a knight. I know this is quite a lot to think about, so I believe I'll take my leave tomorrow, and let you consider the proposal for a year or so. Being a Knight to a Sorceress is a full time task. While I can defend myself adequately, you'd have to be able to hold me down emotionally so that I didn't, for example, lose myself to my anger and destroy a city with a burst of magic. You'd have to be around me almost all day, not to mention the… intimate… part." Naruto looked away in slight embarrassment, giggling a little nervously. Zabuza was just sitting there, staring off into the distance, as he tried to fully comprehend what was being asked of him.

He finally snapped back to reality when Haku was poking him in the shoulder, trying to get his attention. He looked deep into Naruto's molten gold eyes and saw no lie, and gave a grin, shaking his head a little side to side. He finally spoke up, evidently a little uncomfortable.

"I'll think about it. While I'm comfortable with my bisexuality, I'm a little… uncomfortable with the age difference. You can't be older than 14, and I'm already 20. Not to mention I'm a nuke-nin of the Mist, so I wouldn't be very welcome in your village. Plus, I'd be taking Haku with me, seeing as how he's my apprentice."

Naruto gave a wide grin, eyes sparkling a little. He stood up slowly and stretched, before turning his attention back to the two nuke-nin.

"Like I said, I'll give you a year or so to think about it. Don't worry about me if you decline, I'll still have another few years to find a Knight. As for the nuke-nin thing… If Konoha doesn't want to be wasted by a large Meteor impacting into the Hokage tower, they'll have to let you in. I can't be anywhere without my Knight, and I'm sure they'd just _love_ to have Haku there. Or else." He laughed a little maniacally at this, his voice sounding menacing despite its softness. Both nuke-nin felt a slight chill run up their back as they saw flickers of emotions flash through his golden eyes, not wanting to learn what the "else" would be.

He gave another warm smile to them, instantly placating their fears, before gliding along the forest floor towards Zabuza, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek.

"I'll return on my fifteenth birthday. Do not worry, I'll be able to find you. My instincts will lead me towards you. If you decide to reject the offer, I'll look for another Knight. And don't worry if you accept. I'd rather take a relationship slowly, so there's no rush." He gave a slight smirk at Zabuza, trailing a clawed fingertip gently down his cheek without drawing blood, causing a tingling sensation to ripple down the man's spine.

"Bye, Haku, and farewell, Za-bu-za-_kun_." He drew out the syllables of his name with a mischievous wink before walking up to a tree and walking through it, disappearing altogether with a familiar ripple effect on the trunk.

Zabuza sat there, spaced out with a hand to the cheek that was touched, and a lecherous grin slowly spreading across his face, ending with a perverted giggle.

Haku's jaw was touching the ground at the audacity of the male Sorceress.

'_Although,'_ he thought, _'I can see how that boy would be able to be a great match for Zabuza-san. He's dangerous, yet neither bloodthirsty nor arrogant. And he was able to heal his wounds so masterfully!' _Haku's coherent thoughts ended here when he squealed mentally, going starry-eyed at the healing prowess of the Sorceress.

Zabuza's thoughts were a little more serious than his disposition was showing.

'_Hm… I could both get a home for Haku and myself so that we no longer need to escape hunter nins… and I'd be able to settle down with someone. I'm sure both of us would still be doing our ninja duties, and we'd be forced to pair together on missions due to the nature of his magic… but he doesn't seem too bad. I'm sure I saw a flicker of concern within his eyes when he was healing me. He doesn't seem the type to get an inflated head from the power, either… Naruto, eh? Very interesting… I'll have to think on your offer.'_

* * *

One year later (Age 14.5)…

Naruto was on his way back to Konoha for the Genin exams. All the training in the past year had been on control and power, and how to compress his spells. The theory he worked out with Ultimecia turned out to be able to work. He was now able to cast all the spells in his arsenal without losing control. However, he enacted self restrictions on the spells he would use. He wouldn't use the Forbidden magic unless it was absolutely required. He was highly proficient with the staff, and had created his own fighting style for not only the staff but also for his hand-to-hand combat. They both focused on direct, crippling blows aimed at the joints, though the hand-to-hand style was mainly focused on jabs instead of punches due to his...claws. That, coupled with his insane physical strength which could now match Tsunade… well, let's just say the joints will never be the same again.

His Ice Manipulation had hit the point of Mastery, where he had absolute control over it. He was able to recreate Edea's famous Ice Strike attack, and had improved the javelins she threw, as well as improve their throwing power, distance, and accuracy.

His Force Manipulation was approaching the point of Mastery. After meeting with Zabuza a year ago, he had realized just how easy it is for humans to get horribly wounded, and threw himself into mastering Force to protect those close to him. Naruto had learned how to compress his Flare into a small area, obliterating everything, including the atoms within it. His barriers were incredibly strong, and he was able to create a spell that melded Reflect, Shell, and Protect all in one. He used it over the standard Wall spell, since it basically was the same. Instead of a shield against magical attack, as well as physical, he changed the magical structure of the barrier. He meshed the Protect and Shell parts a bit more thoroughly, creating a prismatic colored pentagon, and then faceted the entire thing, causing any non-physical projectile attack to be reflected in a random direction off of one of the facets.

His Time and Space as well as Primal Magic Manipulation were about even. He could possibly hold his own against Ultimecia if she didn't use Forbidden magic against him, since she was far more experienced with those. And if she used Apocalypse... well... no contest.

His Cell Manipulation was also mastered, so that he now constantly rotated his organs in chaotic directions. He had been doing this for the past half year consciously, and finally had it mastered to the point where he was doing it even when not thinking about it. He was also able to create clones by modifying a tentacle, creating an entire working body before detaching it from him. He used these to allow Ultimecia and Jenova out of his mind, which allowed him to spar against them to hone his abilities in a more combat oriented way. The two of them preferred the comfort of his mind, however, and only came out to spar. A lot of the year was spent sparring with one or the other, as he wasn't good enough for both at once yet.

He had grown a little bit taller, ending up around 5'10". He believed he would naturally stop growing at around 5'11", but he supposed he could use his Cell Manipulation to become as large as Adel if he wanted to, though he still shuddered to think about how a woman could look like that. He kept his gi and hakama outfit, and after walking around a clothes shop avoiding fangirls and fanboys outside, he had found a new type of cloth that he thought was perfect for him. It was three layers, on top was silk threaded with tiny metal threads to give it more resilience, the middle was a metal fishnet for more resistance, and the bottom was an absolutely heavenly feeling silk to provide comfort for the body. After inspecting how the cloth was created, he altered his cells to recreate the effect on his clothing as well, though he had to put up with both Ultimecia and Jenova muttering _'Cheapass.' _when he didn't buy the clothing.

He was truly looking forward to his fifteenth birthday. Not only would he possibly get a Knight and have a relationship with someone outside the familial ties to Jenova, Ultimecia and Aeris, but Ultimecia said he was going to go through the final Sorceress Transformation on his birthday as a gift. Jenova also reminded him that Aeris may be stopping by in soul form on his birthday to give him her present.

All in all, he was quite happy while walking down the path towards Konoha. As the gates rose in the distance, he contemplated teleporting in, but supposed it would be less of a chance of causing the Sandaime a heart attack if he simply walked through the gates. However, if he sent ANBU after him… well… he supposed he could use them as lawn ornaments if he petrified them…

As he walked up to the gates, yet still out of sight of the guards, he created a hood matching the color of his gi and pulled it over his head. He placed both his arms into his wide sleeves to hide the nails and walked a little slower to avoid showing off his feet.

* * *

The Chuunin at the gate was having a boring day. Nobody ever seemed to come up to the gate and he was steadily drifting off to slumber in the middle of his shift. Soon, a shadow started to form over the horizon, materializing in a tall man with a black hood covering most of his face in shadow, a black gi with wide sleeves, and black hakama hiding his feet. The only discernable feature were the two locks of white-silver hair hanging on either side of his face, ending a little past his chin. As the Chuunin saw him coming closer, he called out to him.

"Halt! State your name and business in Konohagakure!"

He could _feel_ the smirk coming from the man, and it set him on edge slightly. A draft of wind blew up into the hood, revealing piercing golden eyes for a moment before it dropped back into place. The stranger spoke in a soft voice that radiated power, causing the Chuunin to wonder just how powerful he was to hide his presence like that.

"My name is Naruto, and I'm back from my eleven year training trip. I would like to speak with the Hokage."

* * *

Author's Note: Woo! Done with that. I tried my hand at describing magic training, and I think I did okay... It's kind of like chakra, except it doesn't move in a network. It radiates from your soul, where the highest concentration is. I'm looking forward to writing the next chapters, since I've been wanting to try my hand at fighting scenes. I hope I can pull them off without making them underwritten or overwritten. I also tried to flesh out Ultimecia and Jenova, and make them into a bit of comic relief, making Jenova a pervert and Ultimecia a deviant.

On a side note, should Haku live or die? If he lives, should he get paired with someone, and if so, who? I'm not going to go around pairing everyone with everyone else, but since he'll be close to both Zabuza and Naruto if he lives, he'll be a regularly reoccurring character, so I'd like to flesh him out a bit.

Reviews help me direct my muse. A lot of this story is just general theory swimming in my head. I use reviews to help mold the story, so if you have an idea, put it in the review, and I'll see if it works with everything else.

Next chapter: Genin Exams and Missions!


	4. Genin Exams and Missions!

Author's Note: After writing this chapter out, and applying as much bashing as I saw fit to the 'leech', I saw that it was kind of... redundant. So I redid it, cutting the bashing a bit. I believe I'll straighten Sakura out after the Wave arc, and I was able to circumvent bashing Kakashi. Sasuke... I think he'll be angsty until the Chuunin exams, I suppose. I'm not quite sure when I'll bring him out of it. I wonder if I should have Danzo die... maybe Naruto make him 'disappear' in the invasion... oh the possibilities. I am positive that Jiraiya will still be bashed. Physically, and heavily. I may not be able to punch him, but I'll be damned if someone else doesn't!

**LovePsycho**: Unfortunately, neither Hinata nor Gaara will be Naruto's Knight. I've already decided on Zabuza, since I always wanted to try to mold that character. It was a shame he died so early... Anyway. Due to the fact that Naruto left at age 4, and reappeared at age 14 and a half, Hinata never got to know Naruto, so she's still shy and timid. However, to make up for her lack of confidence, I think I'll have her become Tsunade's apprentice once she's retrieved. While I do think Hinata would be a good emotional support, her physical abilities would be a hindrance, and would make her a liability in combat. And if Naruto lost his Knight... bad things happen. Gaara can't be his Knight, because he's from Suna, so he'd either have to move to Konoha (fat chance of Suna giving up their Jinchuuriki) or Naruto would have to move to Suna. Plus, I like him as a Kazekage. Also, you guessed correctly.

**moonlit dew**: Aww, thank you! I always thought that Zabuza would've been a wonderful character in a main pairing, hetero or no. He's all gruff and uncaring on the outside, but he really did care. I also wanted to find some sort of fic that would have Jenova or Ultimecia as good... but I only found one of either of those, so I decided that I would help lead the charge! Jenova... is a little hard to imagine as good, granted, but I tried my hardest to make it believable! Ultimecia, however, is quite easy to make 'good'. When she's possessing Edea, she bashes Galbadia, asking where the stereotype of sorceresses went as soon as she stepped up as Ambassador/Dictator. I think Haku might be okay paired with Hinata, and both could work as med-nins... or possibly with Ino. I've always enjoyed fics that delved deeper into her character, as her family's abilities are rather interesting. He could also be placed into a male/male pairing like Zabuza, though I'm not sure who I'd pair him with. Any recommendations are accepted!

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"**Spell/Jutsu/Technique"**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the Final Fantasy Series, or any of the characters associated with them.

* * *

Genin Exams and Missions!

The Chuunin's eyes widened a little in slight recognition of the name, although without the surname he wasn't sure where he had heard it before. The lack of golden hair and blue eyes also allayed his fears that the 'demon brat' was back. He nodded to the teen, signaling a Chuunin that was on duty to escort unknown visitors to the Hokage. The second Chuunin dropped down a few feet in front of Naruto, nodding to him before starting to walk off towards the Hokage Tower, with the cloaked boy in tow.

As they passed through the bustling streets, Naruto had to hold in a snort of derision at all the curious and slightly awed looks he was receiving.

'_As if they'd act that way if they knew who I was… this is actually almost worse than sneering. Ah well… at least I haven't been swarmed by fan…people… yet. Although… once they know who I am, I'm sure they'll give up the chase and pretend they never were squealing about the 'demon'.'_

As if on cue, a piercing shriek echoed across the entire village, followed by the sounds of stampeding women, all echoing the same sound at different pitches.

"SASUKE-KUN!"

The mere sound of it caused Naruto to shudder violently in sympathy for the poor boy that would soon be hunted like prey. He pitied the poor soul who was victim to the absolute horror that was fan girls.

Naruto started to speed up discreetly, hoping to avoid the stampede of raging women chasing after their dream-boy, trying hard to shake off the fear gripping his heart. Inside his mind, both Jenova and Ultimecia were curled in fetal positions, having terrible flashbacks to one of the times that he was almost caught by the rabid horde of women in a large town. Soft mumbles and whimpers could be heard from both of them as they shivered violently, clinging to each other in hopes that they'd never have to experience it again.

Soon enough, the Chuunin had led the boy all the way to the Hokage Tower, leaving him at the door. Naruto nodded his head politely to the man before walking in, telling the secretary that he needed to meet with the Hokage. He then sat down to wait for an opening in the aged man's schedule.

* * *

30 minutes later…

Naruto was deep in meditation at this point, having decided to have a discussion with his two kaasans on what to tell the Hokage, and how to explain his abilities without enacting the Clan Restoration Act which would force him to impregnate legions of women to try to spread his "bloodline". He couldn't go into the Council room and just say "I'm a Sorceress." because that would be even worse. Either they'd try to dissect him to try to find what makes a Sorceress tick to try to replicate their abilities, shun him even more since then he'd be both the 'Demon Brat' and the 'Evil Witch', or they'd try to make enact the CRA, hoping it'd be a genetic trait.

He finally decided to tell the Hokage that he was, indeed, a Sorceress. He would give the old man one more chance to hold onto his trust, and if he betrayed it… no more chances. He was sure the wizened man would agree to tell the Council that it was a bloodline ability, negating the annoying Uchihas and their thieving eye abilities, avoiding the possibility of being ordered to teach someone his skills, and being able to explain his lack of hand seals. If the Council tried to pull the CRA on him, he'd just say he was sterile, and that his bloodline would die with him.

He held in his instinctual reflex to blast whoever tapped him on the shoulder, rousing him from his meditative state. He looked up at the woman, not that she'd notice as she couldn't see his eyes. She smiled politely at him, telling him that the Hokage was ready to see him. Naruto nodded his cloaked head to her before ascending the staircase, making not even a slight sound as he moved.

* * *

Hokage's Office…

Sarutobi was having a bad day. Today was the day that Naruto was coming back, or so he had said, so he would have to put up with the Council trying to either incinerate the boy with glares alone, or try to train him into a weapon. Or both, they never were that picky with their morals…

He hefted a weary sigh, giving a death glare to rival that of the Uchihas and Hyuugas at the towering mound of paperwork at his desk. He looked away to sip his tea, before a knock at the door startled him. He sent another glare at the paperwork, swearing that it had multiplied when he looked away, and yelled out "Come in!"

To say he was surprised and a little suspicious when a heavily cloaked figure walked into the room, with the only visible characteristics being the lower half of his face, would be a slight understatement. He had one of his hands below the desk, ready to push the "Alert the ANBU" button if the person should prove hostile. His eyes roamed over the figure, which was moderately tall, with no immediately defining characteristics besides two silvery white strands of hair ending a little past the chin. His eyes seemed to be drawn to the hair, as if trying to remind him of something important, but he shoved that thought aside, pondering instead the figure's purpose.

The voice coming from within the cloaked hood was soft, yet masculine. A stray draft of wind blew through the office, lifting the hood up and over the figure's head, which was odd, since the windows were closed, as was the door…

The first thing Sarutobi noticed were the tattoos spread across the teen's face, followed closely by the piercing golden eyes, twinkling dimly in amusment? excitement? he didn't know. Following that, he noticed the rather long hair, the same color as the locks on either side of his face, yet with a few metallic silver streaks sewn in. Finally his eyes rested on the dark blue lips, oddly wondering if that was natural, or if the boy had a thing for lipstick.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it, Sandaime-sama?"

Now the Hokage was really confused. He couldn't seem to remember anyone with those rather unique characteristics, and yet the boy claimed to know him…? He was about to ask who the teen was, before he was cut off, almost as if he knew what Sarutobi was thinking.

"Aww, I'm crushed, Hokage-sama. You forgot that I was going to return today? For shame…"

Sandaime gave an imperceptible start, his mind screaming at him for not noticing it earlier. His eyes widened in astonishment, choking out a stuttered sentence while his mind worked furiously at how the boy changed so much.

"N-n-naruto?!"

The boy gave a half smirk, the tip of a pointed canine poking out over his dark blue lips, his eyes flashing in a mocking glint as he poked fun at the aged man.

"Aww, have you gone senile already? If only I had known, I might have returned sooner to take care of you, oh wise one! All that aside, though, it's good to see you again, Sarutobi-san."

The Sandaime smiled slightly, feeling reassured that the cold boy that he remembered so long ago wasn't truly what Naruto had become. He still kept a bit of that deviant nature to him, regardless of his new appearance. He pulled out his pipe and lit it, settling back in his chair to relax and catch up with the teen.

"So Naruto-kun… I hope your training trip proved fruitful?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama. I have also come to the conclusion that I should tell you about my abilities, so that you could perhaps assist me with avoiding the Council's greedy clutches."

Sarutobi smirked a little at the thought of getting back at Danzo and the rest of the Council. They had been nagging at him over the years to mark Naruto a missing-nin, regardless of the fact that he was a civilian when he left. This would show those old bats who's the Hokage…

"Oh? Do tell, Naruto-kun. I'll keep this private for your sake. I do feel regretful about how I acted before you left, so I hope this can help make it up to you."

Naruto's oddly colored lips curved upwards in a warm smile. He snapped his fingers within his sleeves, causing a purple glow to soak into the walls of the office. The Hokage looked at him curiously, wondering A) how he did that without handseals and B) what he just did.

Naruto saw the look, and promptly settled down in a chair opposite the Hokage and told him the same version of the story he told Zabuza and Haku, leaving out both his kaasans. The Hokage was absolutely shocked at the news, and understood why he wanted to evade the Council with this. If they got wind of it… he shuddered to think about it.

"Well, Naruto-kun, I do have to meet with the Council, and I have to bring you with me. However, your idea seems to be the best, to play it off as a bloodline and that you're sterile. That way you won't be forced into a harem… I do have to ask, though, you said you found a potential Sorceress' Knight on your trip, would you mind telling me who it is so that if they turn up at the gates that we don't attack them on sight?"

Naruto grinned mischievously at the Hokage, snickering almost… evilly…

"Of course, Hokage-sama. The best candidate that I've found to be my Knight is none other than Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist. If he were to become my Knight, he'd also be bringing his apprentice Haku with him, and they'd both be under my protection so that the Council couldn't use them against me in any way. We could say that my bloodline requires me to find a soul-mate or something so that they don't ask about why A) a nuke-nin would be living in my house, and B) why I'd need him to go on missions with me."

Sarutobi nodded his head, thinking it over before standing up and walking over to Naruto. He held out his hand in a friendly gesture of peace, slightly surprised when an elegant, clawed hand grasped his gently and shook it.

"Now that that's out of the way… we need to meet with the Council and get you your own apartment. The Genin Exams are tomorrow, so I'll write you a pass to take them. I'm quite sure you'll pass most… easily…"

With that said, Naruto laid his hand on the Hokage's shoulder, both of them vanishing through the floor in a ripple effect, to appear in the Council room.

* * *

Council Room…

The members of the Council were fidgety today, as they received word that "Uzumaki Naruto had returned". Danzo was having a hard time holding in his conspiratorial laughter when he heard. All he would have to do is approach the boy and offer him great power if he served Ne… if he heard correctly, then the boy was an absolute idiot, so it wouldn't be that hard. Then he could have a new soldier for his army, one with the power of the Nine Tailed Fox!

The rest of the Council was murmuring in a mixture of fear, hatred, and anticipation of the 'Demon Brat' returning. What if he had come back to kill them all?

All speech was halted instantaneously as the floor near the door started to ripple, as if the hardwood floor had become liquid and someone dropped a rock into it. Quite a few people gasped as a rather attractive teen with white silver hair, golden eyes, tattooed features, and black clothing rose out of the liquid-floor with the Hokage right beside him. Danzo was almost salivating with anticipation of all the uses he could find for a bloodline like that. The floor seemed to solidify under their feet, as Sarutobi coughed to regain attention.

"We're gathered here today to discuss one Uzumaki Naruto, as per request of both myself and the Council."

Naruto had to hold in a snort when he heard the word "Uzumaki". He hadn't gone by that name in ages… but it's not like they knew that. He glided forward on silent footsteps, approaching the pedestal in the middle of the semicircular room where speakers would stand. He cleared his throat a little to dismiss the new breakout of murmurs at his changed appearance, and shot a rather deadly glare at Danzo who was eyeing him like a piece of meat at the marketplace.

"Before I left to go on my training trip, I exhibited some abilities that were rather odd. Does the _Honorable _Council have any questions for me?" His tone was light and mocking, astonishing the council members, for they had always been treated with the utmost respect.

Danzo was the first to speak up, his eyes glinting in hunger as he asked his question.

"Naruto-san, are your abilities part of a newly evolved bloodline?"

The boy could barely hold in his killing intent, wanting nothing more than to obliterate the greedy fool addressing him. Nevertheless, he responded in a clipped, mock-polite tone, his face and eyes betraying no emotion.

"My abilities are a bloodline, yes, and before the Council decides to either enact the Clan Restoration Act on me, or try to experiment on me, I have to say this. I am sterile; therefore, I cannot have children. My bloodline will die with me."

Most of the council was astonished at the fact that the _'Demon Brat'_, of all people, had a bloodline. Bloodlines were held in high regard in the village, and to think that they had been neglecting one all along was almost a slap to the face, but that was quickly negated by their constant hatred returning at remembering that this was the 'Demon Brat' they were talking about.

Danzo's eyes lost a little of their hope of a new squad of bloodline soldiers created out of this new ability, but his resolve was hardened at getting the sole user of it. If he couldn't create test tube soldiers, then he'll use the original!

Hiashi had an appraising spark in his pupil less lavender eyes as he inspected Naruto. The possibilities of that teleportation ability were endless! It was completely silent, didn't use any chakra, and didn't leave anything behind! He spoke up as Danzo sat down, brooding about how he would get the boy to work for him.

"Naruto-san, if I may ask… what else does your bloodline do?"

Naruto smiled, actually and truly smiled at the Hyuuga clan head, shocking both the Hokage as well as much of the council. He knew the Hyuuga had no hatred for him; he was just a calculating figure. He'd go with what logic showed, not allowing emotions rule him.

"I can do seal less jutsu, my physical strength rivals that of Tsunade, and I can manipulate my cellular structure. However, my bloodline is both unrecorded, and unnamed, so there would be no chance of you finding a record."

A lot of the council sneered at such an unreasonable idea, thinking that he had lied to them about the capabilities of his bloodline. Hiashi, however, was shocked, as he could see absolutely no lie, and he prided himself on knowing what each involuntary muscle twitch of the face would mean. The boy hadn't twitched even once!

Danzo, however… well… he was in fantasy land about what he could do with such a power.

Naruto merely smirked, looking out the window at a nearby training field. Getting a rather fun idea that would either A) scare the Council into submission, B) gain their respect (doubtful), or C) cause an absolute uproar. He was hoping it was all of the above.

"If it may please you, _honored_ Council, I could show you just what I mean at that training ground over there?"

The Council hastily agreed, thinking that the 'Demon Brat' would be caught in his own lie.

* * *

Training Ground 23, 5 minutes later…

After everyone had arrived, Naruto nodded politely to Hiashi, eyes flashing in anticipation of the Council's faces. He even had a camera hidden up one of his sleeves to take the pictures.

"Hiashi-sama, if I may…?"

At the Hyuuga clan head's curt nod, Naruto smiled and turned away from the council to hide the tell tale glowing eyes. With a whispered incantation that nobody could hear, he raised one arm in front of him. A burst of bright green light exited his sleeve, expanding into a heavy green mist that exploded in a bright flash of white-green, releasing a keening roar and vaporizing nearly all of the training logs, and a few of the trees, in the training ground.

The teen quickly whirled around, taking as many pictures as he could of the "Esteemed Council" wetting their pants with their jaws hitting the ground. Even Hiashi's perfect emotional control crumbled upon witnessing the feat of the boy, causing his jaw to drop, if only slightly.

He quickly stashed the camera away, watching the council with a slight smirk.

"That was one of my more powerful jutsu's… bloodline secret. Can't teach it to anyone else. Do you need a demonstration of my cellular manipulation?"

The Council finally regained their composure, backing away in slight fear of the boy. Hiashi was the one who replied with a slight nod of his head.

Naruto simply slid the gi off slightly so that his shoulders were exposed. This elicited some questioning stares from the council members, to which he replied with his smirk still etched onto his face.

"I don't want to ruin my clothing while doing this, now do I?"

He could've sworn he heard the Hokage snicker at that. Naruto concentrated, not needing to close his eyes due to the lack of magic required for the feat. Two large, whip like tentacles shot out of his shoulders, whirling around him in an intricate dance of death, causing utter destruction to the ground below. After about fifteen seconds of the ground shaking and cracking underneath the onslaught, Naruto stopped and retracted the tentacles into his shoulders, slipping his top back over his shoulders with a shrug, not wanting the council to see his clawed fingertips and suspect something.

"Does that prove my abilities to you, now? Before I leave here to go find my new apartment that the Hokage so _graciously _gave me as a present on my return, I should notify you that my bloodline has one condition that I should warn you about. I have to find a soul-mate soon, otherwise my abilities will rage out of control. I found a suitable one while traveling, but I won't bore you with the details. Suffice to say that if he accepts, you _will _grant him and his apprentice asylum, and allow them to live with me. If you don't… well… let's just say that my abilities are far more destructive when uncontrolled."

The taunting smile, coupled with what the Council had just witnessed had them nodding at a pace rivaling a woodpecker. The boy smirked even wider, walking up to the Hokage and pocketing a jingling key ring. He waved his wide sleeve over his shoulder while walking away, not looking back once.

* * *

The Next Day, Shinobi Academy…

Iruka was absolutely giddy. Today was the day that the children were tested and released, never to bother him again! Oh the joy! Even the note from the Hokage telling him he'd have a new student for the exams couldn't bring down his great mood.

While Iruka was almost floating with joy, his assistant teacher, Mizuki, was having other thoughts. He had actually paid attention to the name on the sheet of paper, and recognized the demon's name on it. He was currently trying to think up a plan to torment him, following the teacher absentmindedly.

As they both walked into the classroom, Iruka utilized his **Oni Kyoushi no Jutsu (Demon Teacher Technique) **to get the class' attention. Just as he was about to start off the day, the wall near the door started rippling in a liquid fashion, a rather tall figure wearing a black hood, a loose fitting black gi with wide sleeves, and black hakama stepped out of the ripple. The figure turned his head towards Iruka, walked up to the teacher at his desk, and a piece of paper slid out of one of the man's sleeves in front of him. Iruka looked over it for a moment before nodding, catching the class' attention again.

"Naruto here will be taking the Genin Exam with the rest of you."

This, of course, caused the room to break out into shrieks, screams, and yells of outrage at how some 'new kid', got to come in and just take the test, while the rest of them had to go through all the academy classes. The figure loosed a rather small spike of his killing intent, freezing everyone where they stood, before cloaking it again. The room was awkwardly silent for a moment, before Iruka cleared his throat.

"Right… well… he's been on a training trip for the past eleven years, so he hasn't been able to attend the academy. Due to his lack of scholastic achievement, he'll be placed at the automatic bottom of the class, since we will have nothing but the test to determine his competence."

Many of the male students snickered at that, leering at the figure with smug looks on their faces, as if they accomplished something great. The figure simply shrugged his shoulders, another mysterious blast of wind pushing the hood back from his face. It seemed to, once again, come out of nowhere, as the windows were closed… as was the door. The teen's striking looks astonished many of the class, and his soft voice carried over the silent masses as he spoke to the teacher.

"It doesn't matter to me, Iruka-san. Graduating at the bottom of the class has absolutely no say on my level of skill. It is just another meaningless label. I'm quite sure some of the less enthusiastic students," here he gave a pointed look at Nara Shikamaru, who blinked in surprise that the newcomer knew him somehow "are more than adequate, than say… some of the more… _enthusiastic _students." He finished his statement with a look at Haruno Sakura, a pink haired, flat chested individual who was currently latched onto one Uchiha Sasuke's arm and squealing about how awesome he was. Said Uchiha was trying hard to ignore the girl, turning his head away from her and glaring at a minute spot on the wall, angsting about how he would kill his brother.

Naruto's statement was met with a few snickers as people realized what he was talking about. The boy walked up to the back row, away from all the students and sat in one of the empty seats as the teachers started to pass out the written test. Naruto stared at the test for a moment, wondering how knowing exactly what shade of brown the Shodaime Hokage's hair had anything to with being a ninja. He looked over all the questions, wondering what had possessed these people to believe questions like 'What was the name of the Shodaime's Bloodline?' and 'If a kunai is flying at a rate of thirty feet per second in an easterly direction was being subjected to a 15 mp/h northeastern wind, how far would you have to aim to the south to be sure the kunai flies true?' would help anyone with their ninja careers. He heaved a quiet sigh, grasping a pen and answering six of the ten questions without showing his fingers once. After completing the minimal amount required, he sat back and let his eyes drift over his 'classmates' in an appraising stare.

He immediately saw eight other potential Genin candidates, and quietly evaluated them.

Uchiha Sasuke: Heir to the Uchiha bloodline, the Sharingan **(Mirror-Wheel Eye)**, which is able to copy all forms of ninjutsu and taijutsu, and allows for effortless breaking of genjutsu. Judging by temperament, he was deeply traumatized by the Uchiha Massacre when his brother, Uchiha Itachi, killed all the rest of his clan. Possibly an advanced Jutsu library from his clan library. His 'Avenger' persona is a liability, but if he can get over it he may become a competent shinobi.

Yamanaka Ino: Heir to the Yamanaka clan. Specializes in Jutsus that affect the mind, branching off of the basic ability, the **Shintenshin no Justu (Mind-Body Switch Technique) **that possesses the target temporarily, but leaves the shinobi's body vulnerable while possession is occurring. Judging by the… staring… if it can be called that… she is most likely a fan girl to the Uchiha. If she could drop the habit, she would make a talented Genjutsu user.

Nara Shikamaru: Heir to the Nara clan. Specializes in shadow Jutsus, using the owner's shadow, branching off of the **Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique) **that forces the opponent to imitate every move made by the user. Judging by his lazy demeanor, yet calculating gaze, he is also afflicted by the horrible sickness known as Male Nara Syndrome (MNS for short). Symptoms include extreme lethargy, genius level intellect, and a rather… interesting… attraction to women with prominent tempers that keep them in line.

Akimichi Chouji: Heir to the Akimichi clan. Specializes in body altering Jutsus, using caloric supply in fat to augment their different physical aspects. Uses the **Baika no Jutsu (Multi-size Technique)** as the base, enlarging their entire bodies. Can be channeled into specific parts of the body, such as arms or legs. The Akimichi clan almost always eats, to keep up their fat supply as fuel for their techniques. Never ever call an Akimichi "fat", as it will bring about a fury that is usually only seen in women who have discovered a pervert.

Jenova snickered in his mind at that last part, before sending a rather... revealing... image of what she imagined Zabuza would look like, sans clothing. This act caused Naruto to _almost _lose his cool, the only outward symptoms being a single drop of blood from his nose, and an almost unnoticeable blush across the bridge of his nose.

Aburame Shino: Heir to the Aburame clan. Their bodies are hosts to colonies of Kikai (**Destruction bugs)** that feed off of chakra. As the Aburame clan only have a minute amount of chakra, they simply direct their Kikai to mimic other abilities, such as creating clones and walls out of their Kikai. They're quite useful as scouts… and I think I see one inspecting me…

Using a minute amount of magic, Naruto blew the Kikai back in Shino's direction on a tendril of wind, watching as the teen twitched a little, realizing his bug had been found out. He seemed moderately surprised that the bug was still alive after being caught, seeing as how most would simply squish it. Naruto nodded a little in acknowledgement, noticing the Aburame staring at him in confusion, before going back to his observations.

Hyuuga Hinata: Heir to the Hyuuga clan and the Byakugan **(All Seeing Eyes) **that can be used to see the chakra network, internal organs, see through some objects, and even can be focused as a sort of telescope. Unlike other Hyuuga's, she seems to be timid and shy. Probably denoted as weak, regardless of her main branch status, if the lack of a curse seal on her forehead is an indicator. Hyuuga's use their excellent chakra control to inject their chakra into an opponent's tenketsu points, the areas where chakra is released from the body, to shut down the point temporarily. Can also be used to attack internal organs directly with close-range chakra blasts. Perhaps, if she is not suited for combat, she would be better suited to being a medic-nin? The Byakugan would help in that field…

Inuzuka Kiba: Heir to the Inuzuka clan, tracking specialists that have a bond with their canine companions. Their senses are almost doglike, with enhanced hearing, smell, and a little bit of sight. His arrogant nature will be his downfall, though, if he doesn't realize he's never the best.

After searching around a bit, just to make sure his observations were completely correct, Naruto held in a groan of despair at the last likely candidate to be a Genin. If the rest of the class wasn't absolutely hopeless, she would never make it, seeing as how she was only marginally better than a civilian in combat. Heaving a silent sigh, he completed his observations.

Haruno Sakura: Heir to the Haruno clan… though they aren't a shinobi clan. That means that she is a first generation shinobi… this won't end well. Her blind devotion to her 'Sasuke-kun' will definitely be a massive fault. At least her overly-large forehead has a decently smart brain behind it. She also probably has good chakra control… though seeing as how her chakra levels are barely higher than a civilian… it's not saying much. Her devotion to the Uchiha seems to run fairly deep, so it'll take something absolutely horrendous to break. If she could get rid of it, and still be mentally stable to keep being a kunoichi, then her chakra control coupled with her intelligence would make her a good medic or Genjutsu user.

Content with his observations of his classmates, Naruto looked up just in time to see Iruka retrieving his test, and the rest of the class headed outside for their taijutsu and throwing weapon test. He followed them soon after, leaving no trace that he was ever in the room.

* * *

Outside…

As Iruka called out the different people to spar against Mizuki, said assistant was realizing that his could be his chance to injure, or possibly 'accidentally' kill the demon once and for all! He could barely keep the malicious smirk off of his face as he waited for his chance…

Most of the students fared well against the teacher, which surprised Naruto, considering his first evaluation on Sakura. After retrieving a crowbar to pry the pink leech off of Sasuke so that he could take his test, said Uchiha passed at the top of the class. His smug smirk was almost communicating to the entire world that _'Of course I passed. I'm an Uchiha. Uchihas are always the best.'_

Finally it was Naruto's turn to spar against Mizuki. His golden eyes caught the mixture of loathing, anticipation, and excitement swimming through the silver-haired assistant's eyes, and he realized that the teacher would be actually trying to harm him. He heaved a soft sigh, looking completely bored out of his mind as he kept his stance, standing still with both feet together, and both arms in his sleeves, giving a good impression of a monk.

This, of course, pissed off Mizuki to no end that the 'Demon Brat' wasn't taking him seriously, so he charged at full speed towards the long haired teen. Right before he was about to land a punch to Naruto's jaw, the boy lifted one hand, and quicker than the eye could see, flicked Mizuki right in the forehead, sending the poor man careening into a wall with a 'CRACK', returning to his stance before anyone realized what happened.

Iruka was speechless at the power, precision, and control the boy showed in his single attack. He not only immobilized his attacker, but it was a non lethal hit used to knock out his assistant. Granted, he'll probably have broken a few ribs from hitting the wall like that, but there would be no permanent damage. What Naruto said next shocked both him and the entire class.

"Damn… I was trying to hold back so I wouldn't break anything, but he still broke a few ribs, and I think dislocated his shoulder from that. How was I supposed to know he was so... aerodynamic?"

Sasuke was furious, however, that the 'dobe' of the class would have so much power. He needed that power, he was an Uchiha damnit! He needed to kill his brother!

After everyone had collected their jaws, and sent Mizuki to the hospital, it was time for the throwing weapon accuracy test. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Sakura's aim wasn't horrible, so that almost guaranteed her passing. She scored 70 percent on her accuracy test, which then prompted her to suction onto Sasuke's arm, screeching about how 'True love prevails!' and how her 'Sasuke-kun' was so awesome. After a medic was called to heal Iruka's eardrums from being caught point-blank by her Banshee Scream of Doom, Sasuke was up next, scoring 90 percent on the test, one of his shuriken barely missing the bull's-eye on the last target.

As Iruka called Naruto forward, he realized the teen didn't have a kunai or shuriken pouch, and brought this up with him. His question was met with howls of laughter from most of the class, thinking he forgot it at home or something. His answer, however, shut them up quickly. His soft voice was as cold and apathetic as ever, not lauding off his abilities, just stating facts.

"I do not require pouches to hold my weapons, for I simply create my own when I need them."

With a swift flick of both arms, hundreds of frozen senbon shot from his sleeves and littered the targets, multiple needles clustering on the absolute center of each target. The tattooed young man turned towards the shell shocked teacher and raised an elegant eyebrow in question, voicing his thoughts.

"Will this do, or am I required to use shuriken and kunai?"

The teacher shook his head in a silent 'no', before clapping his hands over his ears as he saw Sakura striding over to him, flames of Feminine Fury glowing in her green eyes. She opened her mouth to shriek and scream about how there was 'no way the stupid dobe could have beaten my Sasuke-kun!', but as soon as her lips parted, Naruto struck out in self preservation of his hearing. Uttering a soft "Seal Evil!", the girl's whole body was placed into stasis, hand raised as if to hit Naruto over the head for 'daring to try to be cooler than Sasuke-kun!'.

The rest of the class stared openly at the sight, as Naruto took two steps backwards out of hitting range, waiting for the stasis to wear off. He tilted his head politely towards Iruka, who had tears of joy springing from his eyes that would make Maito Gai and Rock Lee envious of his 'Youthfulness!' from avoiding certain deafness. The boy's dark blue lips twitched, as if wanting to smirk, before settling back into his normal apathy. He voiced his concerns to the teacher, slowly backing away from Sakura who was sure to regain control of her body soon.

"Iruka-san… she will only hold that way for another fifteen seconds or so, although she will not be able to use her voice for about five to ten minutes afterwards. I believe by the time we reach the classroom she will be able to speak again, so shall we head back, or is there another test to be taken out here?"

Iruka simply shook his head, waiting for the Sakura statue to regain movement before calling the class to go back inside. Many of the students were staring at Naruto in starry-eyed wonder at how he was able to silence Sakura, if only temporarily. Even Sasuke was mildly thankful at the newcomer for the silence. However, his slightly better than usual mood quickly sank into brooding angst territory when he realized the 'dobe' had done a technique that he, an Uchiha, didn't know of! To top it off, he didn't even use hand seals! _'Or maybe,' _his mind supplied, _'he did the hand seals in his sleeves.'_ He would have to try to copy the technique with his Sharingan once he unlocked it.

* * *

Back in the Classroom…

After holding a raging Sakura out of fist-range of Naruto who had 'dared to do something' to her when she was simply going to 'protect Sasuke-kun's awesome reputation', the class filed back into the room. After a short lecture on which ninjutsu they'd need to show to pass the final part of the exam and receive their hitai-ate **(forehead protector)**, the class was called out alphabetically to come to the front, demonstrate the **Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique), Kawarimi (Substitution), and Henge (Transformation)**, as well as one technique of their choosing (optional) for extra credit.

The clan heirs showed off their techniques, Chouji using a **Baika no Jutsu **to swell into a passable imitation of a giant volleyball, Ino using **Shintenshin no Jutsu **to possess Iruka to hand her the hitai-ate, Shikamaru using **Kagemane no Jutsu **to achieve the same effect. Shino used his Kikai to do the test by doing a **Mushi Bunshin (Bug Clone)**. He was able to use his miniscule chakra supply that the Kikai left him to accomplish a passable **Henge **and **Kawarimi**. Kiba showed off his **Juujin Bunshin (Man-Beast Clone) **that turned his wolf-sized dog, Akamaru, into a clone of him. Hinata used the **Shugohakke: Rokujuuyonsho (Protection of the Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms) **to create a barrier that could be used offensively. Sasuke opened a window and used **Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Element: Grand Fireball Technique) **to shoot a large fireball out the window, which gained him a squeal from many of the girls in the class, Hinata a noted exception. Sakura was the only one who didn't have a special skill, due to being a first generation shinobi.

Finally it was Naruto's turn. He was debating on what he should do, when his kaasans spoke up, giving him the perfect idea for a technique. He would have to fake a name for it, though, so while he walked up, he was debating what to call it. Finally he performed the techniques specified, using his magic to mimic the effects, though he swore he'd never need any of the abilities. Finally it was time for his 'special' technique. He was unable to hold back the devious smirk as he let his gi slip off of his right shoulder, exposing a little bit of his upper right back and torso. At the class' questioning of his action, he replied with a "I don't want to ruin my clothing when there's no dire need to."

He concentrated on what he was trying to do, and two tentacles shot out of his back, bulging at the tips as they hovered next to him. The cells replicated as fast as absolutely possible, quickly forming a perfect representation of both Jenova and Ultimecia, after which the tentacles retreated to his back. He even got Ultimecia's rather… skanky… dress created with the correct details. She was clothed the way she was when she cast Time Compression, with a large feathery black collar spread wide open. Her dress was open in the front, the edges barely covering her modesty and showing off the tribal tattoos along her stomach. The cloth came together at the front of her hips, before separating at mid-thigh, flowing outwards in a train and showing the rest of the tattoos along her legs. The dress had long, red sleeves that melted into a light purple near the mid forearm, ending in clawed gloves, perfect for her fingers. She even had her hair-horn ornament…thing… with the tips also a light purple. Her black, feathery wings spread wide before folding back into themselves to conserve space. Jenova was simply clothed in black shinobi pants and a vest over an ANBU armor style breastplate, her ethereal hair pulled into a high ponytail with strands falling on either side of her face, like Naruto.

Naruto gave a smug smirk as both the women turned to face the class, eliciting gasps of surprise and awe at the odd features of both women. Jenova's glowing red eye, especially, scared the students and even the teacher a little. It was a little _too _close to the shade of red that was seen in the Kyuubi's eyes over fourteen years ago, not to mention it was _glowing_, and tales of Kyuubi's blood red eye color were often used to describe the fox to little ninja children.

Naruto's voice echoed a little in the completely silent class, naming off the Jutsu he 'created', as he pushed the consciousnesses of both his kaasans into their respective clones.

"**Saibo Seigyo Bunshin (Cell Control Clone)**"

The teacher was staring in awe of the lifelike clones, until Ultimecia glared at him. She looked over to both Jenova and Naruto, and feeling them both mentally nod at her, prepared to introduce herself, making sure it looked like Naruto was controlling clones.

She stepped forward, grinning evilly and tapping the teacher's desk, causing it to explode into a shower of sawdust. The entire class stared in open awe at the sight, realizing that the clones were actually real, not the illusions created by the **Bunshin no Jutsu**. Ultimecia gave a soft laugh and introduced herself in an odd manner, making sure to not draw any suspicion from the class as to the real nature of the clones.

"This is a replica of Ultimecia, the Grand Sorceress who cast Time Compression. She disappeared after casting the spell, which caused widespread destruction, and modified the continents into the one large mass that they are today."

A few people backpedaled away from her, as if afraid the clone had the power of the real Ultimecia, which she did… but they didn't know that. Jenova walked forward next, her sibilant voice echoing in the quiet classroom as she introduced herself in the same way, destroying the chalkboard in a shower of green dust.

"This is a replica of Jenova, the so called Calamity of the Heavens who crashed into the planet thousands of years ago. Her body was later experimented on to create Sephiroth, who was able to summon a large Meteor that almost destroyed the planet. She lived thousands of years before Ultimecia."

With their introductions completed, Jenova rested an arm around Ultimecia's neck, and they both melted into the wall, teleporting to Naruto's new house to help fix it up while he was finishing up with class.

Said teen walked up to the front of the class, and grabbed a hitai-ate set against black cloth, tying it around his upper left arm. He then walked all the way back to his seat, waiting for people to break out of the shock. Sasuke was the first, who glared at him, pissed beyond reason that he had shown a cooler Jutsu than him. He was followed closely by Sakura who was strangely silent.

After telling the class to come back the next day at eight in the morning to meet their Jounin senseis, the class left in an orderly manner. Iruka was left in the classroom, staring at the small powder that used to be his desk. His mind wandered to the possibilities of using that same amount of power to demolish the tests that were piled up in an excellent portrayal of Hokage paperwork, but dismissed the thought, too giddy at the thought that he was FREE!

After returning home for the day, Naruto inspected his new apartment. It was a single story, and had three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. To him, it was perfect. The fridge was stocked with new food, courtesy of the Hokage, and the place was quite clean, thanks to the combined power of a Grand Sorceress and a powerful alien. As he turned in for the night, he placed powerful magical wards around his house, and fell into a deep slumber.

Later that night, Mizuki was caught trying to steal the Forbidden Scroll due to his debilitating wounds. He was executed after interrogation, finding that he was nothing but a lackey to Orochimaru, who had no useful information.

* * *

The next day…

Naruto woke up at five in the morning, feeling intrigued at who his new teacher would be. Unwilling to sit and wait, he got up, went through his morning routine to get cleaned up, and teleported into the Hokage's office. After greeting the aged man and giving him a tip on how to do his paperwork, 'Don't **Kage Bunshins (Shadow Clone) **relay all their information to the caster after they're dispelled? Then you could have clones do the work…', Naruto asked him for the files on different Jounin that were being assigned teams. The Hokage, still giddy and trying to hug Naruto for defeating the evil known to all kages, gave him copies of the files without a second thought.

He teleported back to his apartment, thumbing through them and picking out the ones he was most likely to be paired with. He woke up his kaasans to ask them their opinions on the different teachers. They both agreed on a few key points to each instructor, and after learning how the teams were paired up, they found the teacher he was most likely going to be stuck with.

Yuuhi Kurenai: Genjutsu mistress, new jounin. Both Jenova and Ultimecia figured she'd get a low hassle team that could learn from their families in case her teaching wasn't good enough, or didn't have the skills to teach them the ninjutsu/taijutsu they would need past the basics.

Sarutobi Asuma: Wind affinity and hand-to-hand weapon/tactics specialist. He was most likely to get the next generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, seeing as how he was quite proficient in team tactics.

Hatake Kakashi: Also known as Sharingan no Kakashi, or Kakashi of the Sharingan Eye. He has an implanted Sharingan eye, and is a ninjutsu specialist. Naruto was most likely going to be stuck with this teacher, since he was sure the Council forced Hatake to take on the Uchiha's team to teach him how to use his Sharingan. Due to the fact that Naruto graduated as the 'dobe', though all his practical exams surpassed most Jounin, he was most likely going to be paired with Sasuke, the Rookie of the Year, and Sakura, the Kunoichi of the Year. Known to be exactly three hours late to everything not life threatening, he is also incredibly lazy and lax in nature. He had to refrain from pounding his head against a wall, envisioning at least six months with them, seeing as how the Chuunin Exams were held exactly six months after the Genin Exams, and were hosted biannually.

After clearing his mind of suicidal thoughts, and desperate plans to permanently silence the pink haired leech, he teleported back to the Hokage's office, he caught the aged man reading a rather… adult… orange book named Icha Icha Paradise. After assuaging the Hokage's fears of being found out (and refusing to buy the book, as Jenova had suggested), he returned the files and left, preferring to wander the different training grounds around the village while he waited for the morning to wane.

* * *

Training Ground 7, 7:59 am…

Naruto had finished inspecting each of the training grounds, finding each one to be rather… bland. He almost laughed when he saw how his absolute destruction of Training Ground 23 was still waiting for repair.

Upon arriving at Training Ground 7, he realized that someone was nearby. He followed his feeling to a large stone monument, dedicated to the shinobi who had fallen in battle. He noticed that there was a Jounin with naturally gray, gravity defying hair, a face mask, and his hitai-ate tilted to cover his left eye already there staring at the stone. More specifically, he was staring at three names on the stone. Keeping his presence hidden, Naruto focused his eyes, trying to see if he could find which three names out of the hundreds the man was staring at. After about two minutes, he was able to make out the names of Namikaze Minato, Inuzuka Rin, and Uchiha Obito.

His curiosity sated, Naruto walked out into the clearing, and knelt next to the crouching man. His long hair was blowing softly in a stray breeze as he prayed in silence next to the man, paying his own respects for the dead. While he may not exactly like the village too much due to their treatment of him, he respected the shinobi who had devoted their life to the end to protect their home.

As he focused a bit more, he made contact with the Lifestream, hearing the familiar hum and pulse of the souls, he sent a mental feeling to those who had died for Konoha that he respected their decisions to die for their home, and that he wouldn't let their deaths be in vain.

The shinobi still flowing through the planet were a little shocked that someone was actually able to communicate with them. Naruto singled out a select three, telling them that, what he assumed a dear friend of theirs was also paying his respects for them. At his description of the shinobi next to him, they told him who it was. Naruto's blue lips curved into a sad smile as he realized that Kakashi must come here every day to pay his respects, feeling guilty for whatever reason that they were dead. He didn't reveal that he was Minato's son, even to the souls of the dead, as he felt it would be more trouble than it was worth. He pushed the connection to the Planet to the back of his mind, telling the three that he would relay their message to the grief-stricken man beside him. Standing up slowly, he realized that a small field of flowers had bloomed around the monument, an aftereffect of communicating with the Lifestream. Kakashi was currently staring at him with his one revealed eye wide in shock.

Naruto gave another sad smile as he stood to his full height, turning to head to the academy where he was already two hours late. Before he left, though, he called over his shoulder to the man, shocking him to the core.

"Rin wants to let you know that it wasn't your fault she died. She knew exactly what she was doing, and what would happen, when she ran to one of the makeshift medical tents in the direct path of the Kyuubi. She was able to evacuate eighty people before the tent was crushed beneath the fox, and she was glad to be able to give her life for many others. Obito wants to let you know that he's proud to call you his best friend, and that he's glad you used his eye to protect others. He also wants to let you know that you shouldn't rely on it too much, as much of the Uchiha clan used to do. And finally, Minato wanted to tell you that he's proud to have been your sensei, and wishes you would stop spending so much time here. While it is good to acknowledge the deaths of comrades, you shouldn't dwell on it too much and let it consume you. Never let their deaths be in vain, but don't obsess about what you could've done to prevent it."

With the souls' messages relayed, he disappeared into the forest, walking at a slow pace towards the academy, leaving the Jounin to stew on what he had said.

* * *

Half an hour later…

Just as he was about to open the door to his class, a 'poof' of smoke appeared next to him, revealing the same man he had left at the memorial. Naruto opened the door and peered inside, seeing that only Sakura and Sasuke were left, and were absolutely livid at having to wait three hours for both their teammate and sensei. Naruto quickly ducked back out before they could notice him, nodding to the cycloptic Jounin beside him.

"Hatake Kakashi, I presume? I'm Naruto, one of your students. Your other two are in there."

After notifying his students to meet on the roof, the gray haired man 'poof'ed up to the meeting place, seeing his third student already waiting for him. He decided to ask the question that had been burning in his mind for the past half an hour, since the other two wouldn't be up to the roof quite yet.

"How were you able to know what the dead were saying? Normally, I'd be suspicious that you were faking it, but with all the information you gained from just praying there, as well as the mysterious flowers blooming spontaneously while you were paying your respects, I believe you actually did talk to the dead."

Naruto flicked his golden eyes to rest on his teacher's one eye as he gave a wan smile. He figured he could let his teacher in on at least one secret, as all records of the Ancients had been destroyed ages ago from the Time Compression.

"I am deeply connected to the Planet, so I am able to converse with the Lifestream, the blood of the planet, which is simply all the souls of the dead as well as their energy. I noticed you were staring hard at three specific names, so when I was giving my respects for the Konoha souls that gave their lives for their home, I singled those three out and told them that you seemed to be grieving heavily over their deaths. They wanted me to pass on the message to you so that you wouldn't get stuck in the past, forever obsessing over some decision that took too long, some option overlooked."

The teacher was stunned at his student, his eye crinkling up into an upside-down 'u', showing that he was smiling behind the mask.

"Well, I suppose that answers that question. I'd like to talk with you a bit later, though. Here come your teammates."

Sasuke opened the door to the roof, his clothes and hair looking rumpled, and the glint in his eyes absolutely murderous. Sakura followed at a 'comfortable' distance (read: parasitically attached to his arm), and was giggling in a way that she must have deemed 'seductive'.

Kakashi chose to further infuriate them with his patented 'eye smile', acting as if nothing was wrong. Naruto was hard pressed to not let out a snort of laughter when he realized what the teacher was playing at. Jenova and Ultimecia, having no such restrictions on their behavior, were placing bets on which of his two teammates would be the first to snap, and when.

"Now that we're all here, how about we do introductions? Name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams. Pinky, you first." Sakura twitched at the nickname, a vein standing out in stark relief against her temple as she fought to control her anger. Her split personality was having a field day in her head, yelling out curses and punching the air.

She chose to smile sweetly and put a finger to her lip, curling closer to Sasuke and quite possibly cutting off circulation through his arm. "Kakashi-sensei, can you go first?"

Finding a new opportunity to infuriate his charges, Kakashi started it off with another 'eye smile'.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi, Kakashi-sensei to you three. I have some likes... My dislikes… eh. Dreams…? … I have some hobbies…"

Jenova and Ultimecia were watching through the monitor, popcorn in hand while counting out "How Many Ticks until Sakura Gets an Aneurysm?" The score so far was eight, and still no brain bleeding. They were sure she would crack soon, though.

"Pinky, you go next."

Nine…

"My name is Haruno Sakura," here she smiled like a shy girl, acting as if she wasn't trying to somehow meld her body into Sasuke's, if her death grip on his arm was any indication, "my likes are… well… the person I like is…" here she giggled and snuck a not-so-secret look at Sasuke, getting a light blush on her cheeks, "my dislikes are… INO-BUTA (pig)!" at this point her alternate personality came into play, killing intent flaring from her as flames not unlike the 'Flames of Youth' burning in her eyes. After calming down, she continued with her introduction. "My hobbies are…" she sent another not-so-secret glance at Sasuke and blushed…again… "And my dreams…?" At this point Naruto whipped out two sets of ear-muffs, placing one set on his head, and one on Kakashi's head. Just in time, too, because her squeal was loud enough that it shook the foundations of the building, the sound even going through the ear protection to cause a slight headache. Several dogs all across Konoha, as well as the entirety of the Inuzuka kennel all howled in agony at the pitch.

After removing the ear protection, Kakashi sent a thankful glance to Naruto, who was currently staring in awe at how powerful that girl's lungs must be. Jenova and Ultimecia both swore that the banshee's voice could be used as a lethal weapon, and if she augmented it with chakra it might cause more devastation than some of the Forbidden Magic.

Kakashi sent a glance at Sasuke, who seemed absolutely fine regardless of the fact that a fan girl had squealed loud enough to be rated on the Richter scale. Both Naruto and Kakashi pitied the poor lad, for this must have been an everyday occurrence. Hoping to end the introductions soon so that he might escape the blast radius of another squeal, Kakashi pointed towards Sasuke, silently hoping that the boy wasn't a talker.

"My name…is _Uchiha_ Sasuke." At this point, the earmuffs were back out as another squeal escaped the girl's throat. "I have no likes, I dislike many things, but mostly my fan girls, and my dream…? My dream is more of an ambition. To kill…a certain man, and to revive my clan."

The sheer waves of angst radiating off of the Uchiha could have made flowers wilt. Thankfully, he wasn't near the Yamanaka Flower shop… Kakashi pointed to Naruto next, who shrugged his shoulders in an uncaring gesture, opting to make his introduction as short as possible.

"My name is Naruto. No surname. My likes…?" here he shrugs, his kaasans giggling hysterically as the tick count on Sakura reached fourteen "Dislikes…? I guess labels; being known for something that doesn't reflect on you as a person." This confused his two teammates, and gave Kakashi a much needed hint of his interesting student's identity. "Hobbies…?" he shrugs again, trying hard to keep a straight face as Jenova and Ultimecia started to chant "POP, POP, POP, POP" while staring at the tick mark on Sakura's temple. "My dreams…?" He actually had to think about this one, as he never really thought about it… "I suppose… my dream is to find my Knight." His two teammates were slightly confused at this, thinking that the boy was talking about a symbolic 'knight in shining armor'. Kakashi, however, was sure the boy was dropping hints at him, especially since he caught the discreet wink that Naruto gave him. He further resolved to learn more about this student, especially if he passed the bell test… The council only wanted him to teach Sasuke how to use his Sharingan anyway. It's not like he had to teach him jutsu... He might think about teaching his other two students, except Sakura doesn't even seem to want to be a ninja, and his other student... after he heard of the stunt he pulled during his exams... he probably didn't need teaching.

"Well, now that we're all aquainted…" Sakura gave an unladylike snort, as her 'weird' teammate and teacher didn't say much at all. "Meet at Training Ground 7 at 7 am tomorrow for your _real _test. It has a 66 percent failure rate. Don't eat, or else you'll throw up." Without waiting for a response, he 'poof'ed away in another **Shunshin**, narrowly escaping the enraged yell that split the skies after he left, a resounding "WHAT?!" echoing off the buildings.

Naruto, thankfully, had also teleported almost as soon as the teacher did. He smiled to himself as he meditated in his house, working on a theory of how to possibly mix two different elements together with Ultimecia and Jenova. His teacher was quite interesting, and seemed the type that Naruto might open up to, in time. Both his kaasans were depressed, though; in the middle of his introduction, Naruto had also placed a bet, saying that the teacher would do something incredibly frustrating at the end of the session, and then Sakura would snap. He, of course, won the bet.

* * *

Next morning, 10 am…

Naruto had paid his respects to the dead again at the memorial stone, noticing that Kakashi seemed a bit happier than the day before. The flowers around the stone were flourishing, and Naruto made a note to come there whenever he wanted to communicate with the Planet. After waiting the customary three hours, he appeared in a slight ripple from a tree, out of sight of his two teammates. He counted down in his mind, slipping two pairs of earmuffs into his hands as he prepared to ambush his team with his teacher.

'_3…2…1…' _As if on cue, both appeared at the same time, Kakashi's **Shunshin **smoke covering the ripple from Naruto's teleport. The silver white haired teen quickly slipped the ear protection, extra strength with duct tape, over both their heads, heaving a relieved sigh when the banshee's screech of "YOU'RE LATE!" was blissfully silent.

Kakashi gave his patented 'eye smile', pulling two bells out of his kunai pouch. After he explained his bell test, Sakura and Sasuke took to the trees, while Naruto simply walked over to the three training logs and sat down, leaning his back against the middle one. This perplexed his sensei, who was looking forward to learning a bit more about the boy. If he didn't participate in the test, how was he supposed to pass?

* * *

Two hours later, 12 pm noon…

The bell rang, and despite the Uchiha's ingenuity with his Katon jutsu, hiding shuriken within the fireballs of the **Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Element: Phoenix Fire Flower)**, he still didn't get a bell. Sakura was knocked unconscious by a D-ranked genjutsu called **Magen: Narakumi (Demonic Illusion: Nightmare Viewing)**, causing the teacher to sweatdrop. According to the Academy's evaluation, the girl was a natural for Genjutsu and medic jutsu! As he sighed and prepared to fail his students, he heard a slight tinkling coming from the middle log. The tinkling was coming from one of Naruto's sleeves. The teen opened his eyes and pitched both bells to his teammates, revealing the true nature of Kakashi's test.

"It was all about teamwork. You were supposed to put aside your differences, and work together to get a bell."

Kakashi nodded a little, telling them to meet the next day at the same time to start their missions, congratulating them on being his first team he passed, but held Naruto back to talk with him. After his teammates were out of sight, Kakashi asked the question:

"How did you get the bells? _When _did you get them?"

Naruto gave a mischievous smirk, looking pointedly at the bells that he had supposedly 'recovered' that Kakashi was holding. They both melted into tiny puddles, showing that they were just ice replicas. Kakashi was astonished at the simplicity of it, and reached down to his waist, and there they were. Both bells were still tied to his waist.

Naruto stood to go, calling over his shoulder to his enigmatic sensei.

"Perhaps someday I will open up to you, Hatake Kakashi. You are a very interesting individual…who knows? You may help me restore my faith in humanity…"

With his parting shot, Naruto phased into the ground, teleporting back to his apartment to meditate some more on his theory.

* * *

Five months later, in the middle of Konoha forest…

"Frost, in position, over." A soft murmur was heard through radio headsets.

"Cyclops, in position, over." A lazy drawl seconded, with an accompanying sound that was suspiciously like the turnings of a page… in a perverted novel…

"Obsessive Angst in position. Never letting you choose the names again, Naruto. Over." Was the response coming from a thoroughly pissed Uchiha.

"Pink Banshee in position. I agree with Sasuke-kun on that. Over."

"Frost closing in on the target. 5 meters. 3 meters. 1 meter." A soft mumble was heard through the link, but nobody could discern what it was. "Target acquired. If I have to catch this cat again, I'm upgrading it to Assassination. Report to Hokage Tower, over."

* * *

In the Hokage Tower…

A pissed off Uchiha, followed by an equally pissed off Haruno entered the room to find the Fire Daimyo's wife squeezing the life out of the poor cat, Tora. Inner Sakura was cheering, plotting her revenge if the cat ever escaped again. Sasuke smirked at the cat's position, satisfied that it was suffering for making him go through the forest for it. Naruto… was still emotionless, yet you could tell he was getting pissed at the cat retrieval missions. Inside his head, Ultimecia was sharpening a butcher's cleaver, and Jenova was preparing a barbecue. _'For the next time the cat escapes.' _they said.

The Hokage smiled kindly, shooting a glare out the side of his vision towards the stack of paperwork growing from the floor. He swore it was growing like fungus! The Fire Daimyo's wife thanked them profusely and left, squeezing the cat so hard it was a wonder it's back didn't snap.

"Good job, team 7. Now for your next mission you can choose: weeding the gardens, carrying dog food to the Inuzuka kennel, helping councilman Mitokado Homura with his grocery shopping…"

A loud hissing snarl was heard from outside the tower, followed by a "No! Tora, come back!"

"…or capturing the Fire Daimyo's wife's cat again."

At this, Naruto's temper finally flared, his eyes flashing a bright golden, a detail only caught by Kakashi and the Sandaime, before a loud explosion rocked the tower, followed by wounded mewling and the Fire Daimyo's wife yelling out, "Oh Tora! Are you alright? Come to kaasan so I can hug it better!"

Reining his anger back in, Naruto gritted his teeth and ground out a sentence in a monotone, as both his kaasans raged inside his mind how he should have used Forbidden Magic to put the cat out of its misery once and for all.

"Hokage-sama, I believe we have completed the prerequisites for a C-ranked mission. If you do not co-operate with this demand, then I'm afraid I'll hire myself for a solo assassination mission on that cat, and I promise Genins will never have to chase it again."

The Sandaime and Kakashi both stared at Naruto, Sarutobi in amusement and slight fear, and Kakashi in wonder, as well as slight suspicion. He was getting closer to his pragmatic student, but he had yet to open up to him more than their first meeting.

"Alright, I'll give team 7 a C-ranked escort mission." He pushed his secretary button and asked her to send in Tazuna.

The door opened and an inebriated middle aged man stepped in, clothed in slightly worn worker's clothing. He was holding a sake bottle, his cheeks were flushed a light red, and everything about him smelled like alcohol. He looked over at Team 7, and quirked an eyebrow, asking loudly if 'those brats' were going to protect a 'super bridge builder like me'. His answer took the form of his sake bottle exploding into a shower of alcohol, the shards of the glass turned to powder from the force.

Both the Sandaime and Kakashi stared at Naruto, whose eyes had once again brightened before fading back to normal. The bridge builder was thoroughly 'convinced' that they would be just fine, told them to pack for about a month, and to meet him at the west gate at 8 am the next day.

* * *

Author's Note: Yay! Another chapter done! Next chapter will be the entirety of the Wave arc, so before I write it, I'm going to need at least one review answering whether Haku should die or not. Or maybe he should die and be used as a guinea pig for Great Gospel? Meh. Either way. I'm currently split 50/50 on the decision to kill him or let him live, so I would really like some help with this. Expect an update a day or two after getting help with this dilemma.

Next Chapter: Wave Country aka Nami no Kuni


	5. Wave Country aka Nami no Kuni

Author's Note: The reviews! Oh the glorious reviews... I love you all. I was rather surprised that I got reviews less than a day after updating. Anyway, after people told me their opinions, I have decided! But you shall have to read to find out, bwahaha... anyway. Wave Arc! Yay! And some rather... intimate... moments with Zabuza and Naruto in this chapter. Nothing heavy, though. I'm wondering whether I should try my hand at writing sex scenes...

I have decided that I will write out a detailed description every time he casts a new spell, and then perhaps a shortened version all the other times he casts it. That way it doesn't seem like I'm repeating myself... plus some of the more powerful ones are damn detailed. All the spells will be in English, because I don't trust the translator I'm currently working with to make decent Romaji. If anyone knows a good English to Romaji translator, or even an English to Japanese to Romaji translator, I'd be grateful. Until then, though, all spells are in English, and I'll see if I can get the Jutsu's in their correct Romaji translations.

Now for replying to reviews! Because I love my readers.

**AnsemMesna**: You must read to find out!

**NarutoSlayer**: Look no further. It shall be here.

**demonlover666**: Ask and you shall receive.

**LovePsycho**: I'm thinking that I will pair him with her. Hinata deserves to have a good pairing, damnit! She's a good girl! Ooh... someone should stick her with Tobi.

**thedarkeststar**: I figured most people wouldn't want to go google searching to find everything about stuff I left unexplained, so I tried to explain it as much as possible. To get a better idea on their actual appearances, though, google helps a lot. I'm not sure if I can correctly describe Ultimecia's tattoos, or other details like that.

**simplicity.exe**: I think I'll do a little one-sided denial action with that... thanks for the idea!

**Shika Kev Prower**: Sakura bashing starts to end after this chapter. I'll see if I can come up with new ways to bash Sasuke. I try to not make things too cliché'd, so I thank you for notifying me of this. I don't think her Banshee scream would make a good jutsu, actually... it would be a point blank area of effect, and affect both allies and enemies equally, unless she could somehow direct it or concentrate it. I do like how you think, though, as it's a good idea.

Enjoy the chapter!

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"**Spell/Jutsu/Technique"**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the Final Fantasy series, or any of its characters. If I did, Jenova vs Sephiroth would've been the final battle in FF7, because that man needs to be bitchslapped by his momma.

* * *

Wave Country aka Nami no Kuni

West Gate, 8 am…

Tazuna was currently waiting with both Sakura and Sasuke for the elusive third Genin, as well as the missing Jounin. Before he could ask if the two were always late, a 'poof' of smoke signaled their arrival.

They both stepped out of the smoke with a wave and a "Yo!", shocking the other half of the team that they were, in fact, on time. Sakura brought her hands together in a seal and yelled "Kai!", trying to dispel the illusion. Sasuke… well… he was sort of hoping that his Aura of Uchiha would force them to fess up to it being a joke, and bow down before him like most of the village.

After reassuring everyone that they were, in fact, the real Naruto and Kakashi, the team set out of the gate at a walking pace due to their client having no shinobi training to take to the trees. As they were walking, Sakura kept fidgeting with her large backpack and asking questions about their destination, such as 'are there shinobi in Nami?' and 'will the salty air mess up my hair?'. After about fifteen minutes of this, the resident parasitical arm attachment realized something about her odd teammate, and decided to voice her question in a less than… polite… way:

"Naruto-baka (idiot)! Where is your backpack? We were supposed to pack for a month!"

The boy glanced over to her with a disdainful glare, causing her to falter in her step slightly, and answered her question in a clipped tone.

"I can create my own weapons, so I do not require weapon supplies, and I create my own clothing as well. As for food, I am quite adept at hunting."

The comment about his clothing further interested Kakashi, who was sure he was about to make a breakthrough to his student… he just had to connect the dots… As for Sasuke… well… he was planning on copying the technique with his Sharingan, since he was an Uchiha, and Uchiha equals power.

Before his train of thought could start wilting life around him from the angst and arrogance that was sure to spill over, he was distracted by a squeal and pain around the upper portion of his arm, signaling that Sakura thought he did something 'cool', or it was just her bi-hourly 'Sasuke Fix'.

Naruto was keeping a steady pace, his body walking automatically as he meditated. He was trying to fine tune a theory on how to mix manipulations together when he felt two malicious presences nearby. Opening his eyes and blinking a little in the light, he discreetly glanced around before settling on a puddle. A rather conspicuous puddle, seeing as how there hadn't been rain in two weeks, and it was about high noon…

His eyes flickered over to Kakashi who tensed minutely, showing that he saw it as well. He was almost afraid of what his teammates' reactions were…

Against his better judgement, he looked over to them as well, only to hold in a groan of disappointment at their observation skills. Sakura was busy staring at Sasuke, who was glaring at the ground while he walked. Neither seemed to notice the puddle off to the side of the road…

After holding in a sigh of resignation, he decided to see how his teammates would fare in a combat situation. He was hoping against all hope that this would shake Sakura from her fan girl status, and possibly get Sasuke to focus on the present, not on his brother or his past. He slowed his pace so that he was guarding the back of the bridge builder as they walked past the puddle. Not three seconds later, the two shinobi burst out of the genjutsu water and flung a bladed chain that connected both of their clawed gauntlets together, wrapping it around Kakashi and pulling.

As their teacher was diced into bite sized chunks, both Sakura and Sasuke had interesting reactions… Sakura was screaming in horror that her sensei was killed… and if Naruto looked closely, he swore the goggles the two shinobi were wearing cracked from the pitch. Sasuke… well… he was just seeing this as a chance to prove his 'Uchiha Might' in front of the foreign bridge builder, not caring that his sensei was just 'killed'. Naruto simply looked at a seemingly random point in the forest and winked at it, stepping back to be in a position to guard the bridge builder and be able to help his teammates should they fail to pull themselves together.

Unfortunately, his plan was doomed to fail from the start, as Sakura froze up in terror at the approaching enemies. Sasuke flung a kunai and shuriken, pinning the chain to a tree, and forcing the two, now identified as Mist nuke-nin, to disconnect it. Throwing different combinations of punches and kicks, none of which hit the two, he stepped back and began the hand seals for a **Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Element: Phoenix Fire Flower Technique)**. The half dozen volleyball sized fireballs impacted, four missing, and two hitting the shinobi on the left in the chest, sending him into a tree and knocking him out. The other shinobi, though, had taken Sasuke's drop in guard to charge at Sakura and Tazuna, poisoned claw outstretched to try to take out his target. Sakura screamed in terror once again, causing Naruto to wince and his power to flare again in irritation. Snapping his eyes shut to hide the glow not an instant too soon, he allowed his power to mold itself, giving a slight start as he realized what form his magic was instinctually taking in this situation. Regardless, he let it do its own thing, and waited for the spell to finish before he could put a cap on his power again.

Six large, rough icicles materialized through the water vapor in the air, taking on a soft blue glow as they floated protectively around the bridge builder and Naruto. With a slight flick of his sleeve, the so called 'javelins' sped towards their target at high speed, catching him off guard and pinning him to a tree. One javelin each crucified his hands and feet to the tree, immobilizing him. The fifth ice spear impacted the tree just an inch to the left of his chest in a threatening gesture towards his heart. The final spear was arguably the worst of all six. It was exactly a centimeter below the poor shinobi's crotch, causing all the men within a five mile radius to simultaneously feel foreboding shivers, and instinctively clutch their groins in sympathetic pain for the poor man.

While the Mist nuke-nin was pinned to the tree and whimpering in pain, Naruto was staring at the same random spot in the middle of the forest, glaring at it and tapping his foot impatiently. After the window of time deemed 'acceptable' for his late sensei closed, the Sorceress heaved a sigh of resignation, walking up to the pinned shinobi and pulling the javelin nearest his heart out of the bark. He then tossed it up and down in his hand as to test the balance, before turning and flinging it at high speed at the same spot in the forest. After a moment, a sound similar to breaking glass was heard, followed by a pained yelp, as their sensei walked out of the trees, pulling shards of ice that were embedded shallowly in his leg. As he walked up to the nuke-nin to interrogate them, he gave a glare to his student, silently asking if that was required.

Said student was too busy inspecting the two captured nins to pay attention to his teacher's glaring, idly wondering if these two nins would know Zabuza…

After figuring out that their client lied to them, Kakashi gave the option to retreat, or to continue on with the mission. Naruto wanted to continue, as his Sorceress instincts were telling him Zabuza was closer than usual, and he wondered if he had anything to do with it. Sasuke wanted to continue to compete against Naruto, and Sakura, though scared, followed Sasuke.

With their decision made, Kakashi tied up the Demon Brothers, as they were called, and continued walking along the path to Nami no Kuni.

* * *

Fifteen minutes, and a silent boat ride, later…

Team 7 was well on their way to their client's house when the air started to get thicker with a slight mist. As they continued walking, the mist kept getting thicker until it was hampering visibility somewhat. Kakashi tensed, noticing there was a slight amount of chakra in the mist, and spread his senses out to detect whoever it was. He barely had time to yell out a warning before tackling the client to the ground, with Sasuke and Sakura dropping soon after, narrowly avoiding a rather large spinning sword that would have decapitated them. Naruto…merely sidestepped the flying projectile, allowing it to miss him by a few inches.

The team looked up in the direction the sword had flown, immediately noticing a rather large man standing on the hilt of said sword, which was buried halfway into a tree trunk. He was about 6'4", with a slightly ashen skin tone. He had spiky black hair with a slashed Mist hitai-ate tied to the side of it, gray eyes, and bandages wound around the lower half of his face. He was wearing a Jounin vest over a shirtless torso, a pair of matching arm and leg warmers in a black and white camouflage pattern, and a pair of black shinobi pants with standard blue shinobi sandals. The man couldn't have been older than 23, and was currently eyeing the team with an appraising eye, trying to gauge their strengths and weaknesses. His eyes lingered on Naruto longer than was necessary, but Naruto shook his head, silently telling him to not recognize him, and that he would talk to the man later.

Acknowledging the Sorceress with a slight tip of the head, Zabuza gave a bloodthirsty grin, his pointy teeth hidden behind the bandages. His voice boomed over the small clearing as he mocked the team, dropping off of the handle of his sword and yanking it out of the tree trunk.

"Sharingan no Kakashi, the nin who supposedly has copied 1000 Jutus, eh? I just might have a challenge after all. Hand over the old man or your entire team dies here."

Kakashi's title pushed Sasuke into angsting overdrive, wondering how his sensei could have the Sharingan when he hadn't unlocked his yet. All events in the universe must revolve around his doujutsu unlocking, damnit! He was an Uchiha!

Kakashi was slightly intimidated by the man, as he wasn't as trained as he used to be back when he was an ANBU captain. His grief over his lost comrades got in the way of his training, and he was only recently starting to get back into practice. His hand went up to his hitai-ate readjusting it so that it no longer covered his left eye. This action exposed a jagged scar that ran from just above his left eye down below his facemask, and showed his implanted Sharingan eye with three tomoe spinning lazily within.

"Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist. A-rank nuke-nin and former Swordsman of the Mist. Unfortunately, this old man is my mission, and I will not let you kill him."

With those words said, the battle was joined. Zabuza hopped onto the nearby lake's surface, channeling more chakra into the water below to thicken the mist, effectively hindering almost all visibility. He silently mouthed a jutsu to cause his voice to echo from all around the clearing, so that he didn't give away his position by voice.

"There are eight fatal points on the human body. Liver, Kidney, Jugular Vein, Lungs, Heart, Brain, Subclavical Vein, Larynx. Which fatal point would you like to die by?"

Kakashi noticed the fear emanating from two of his three Genins, surprised that Naruto wasn't showing any fear at all. He filed that thought away into his mind for later, as he needed to somehow boost morale so that his team didn't do anything rash. He flared his chakra, dispelling the mist in a ten foot diameter around him, and helping to counteract Zabuza's killing intent that was causing both Sakura and Sasuke to shake like leaves in a gale. Sasuke was even reaching for a kunai, as if to end his life.

"Don't worry, you three," Naruto had to stifle a giggle at his sensei either thinking he was worried, or trying to make sure that Sasuke didn't realize he was unaffected by the killing intent. "I won't let my comrades die."

His words strengthened their resolve, however, and placated their trembling as they formed a defensive perimeter around Tazuna, Sasuke and Sakura with a kunai out, and Naruto with his hands in his sleeves.

While his sensei and Zabuza were playing 'Tag' with **Mizu Bunshins (Water Clones)**, Naruto noticed another presence hidden in the trees. He reached out and gently tapped them with a tendril of his magic to identify them, realizing that it was Haku in a hunter-nin disguise. He retracted the tendril, and relaxed, positive that Haku wouldn't let Zabuza get close to losing.

Kakashi finally made a mistake, and was punched in the chest for his effort, sending him flying into the water. Zabuza sped over and landed atop the water, doing fast hand seals and reached out with one arm, capturing Kakashi in a **Suiro no Jutsu (Water Prison Technique)**.

Fearing for his students' lives, he quickly yelled at them to escape so that they didn't die as well. This time Naruto wasn't able to hold in his snicker, causing everyone, including the hidden Haku to look towards him. As he explained himself, he gave a discreet look at Haku's hiding place, hoping he'd get the signal to move in and capture Zabuza before things got too hectic.

"Your first lesson was on teamwork, and how we should always stick with our team. I believe the saying is: 'Those who don't follow the rules are trash, but those that abandon their comrades are worse than trash'? Sorry, Kakashi-sensei, but I refuse to be regarded as worse than trash."

With that said, Naruto blurred into action, his speed escaping the eyes of the two Genin, but slow enough that Jounin could see him clearly. He appeared in front of Zabuza with a softly whispered apology as he backhanded the man, sending him flying across the water and skidding to a halt against a tree. Three senbon flew through the air from the tree line, piercing into his neck as Kakashi headed over.

After confirming that the nuke-nin was, indeed, dead, Kakashi collapsed due to chakra exhaustion from using his implanted eye too much. As Naruto collected his unconscious sensei, he gave a warm smile to the 'hunter-nin', giving a second whispered apology.

"Sorry about having to do that to him, Haku, but I didn't want him harmed. The hit was enough to crack a few ribs and knock him out, but nothing deadly. I think I'll have to meet with you two tonight, as I'm sure Zabuza is wondering what I'm doing out here, and I suppose I could come one month early to see if he has an answer…"

Haku nodded minutely, disappearing in a swirl of mist to retreat back to their hideout. Naruto politely inquired on the location of the bridge builder's abode, and the man offered to lead them there since it was close by. The tattooed teen heaved his sensei over his shoulder like a sack, nodding to his two teammates who were still slightly shocked that one hit disabled a nuke-nin, and they headed off to their client's house.

After a nice dinner with the client's family, Tsunami and Inari, as well as putting up with the child's abrupt and rather rude departure from the table, Naruto made sure Kakashi's unconscious body would be fine for the night. After making sure nobody was awake, Naruto vanished from the bedroom, leaving only a slight ripple where he once was.

* * *

Zabuza's hideout, 11:00 pm…

Naruto homed in on the area where he was sure Zabuza and Haku were staying, appearing through a wall into their room. He appeared in the middle of a verbal lashing from what seemed to be the ex-Mist-nin's employer, a grubby, greedy little man who seemed to exude arrogance and money. When the snide man tried to hit Zabuza's supine form with his cane, Naruto decided to step in. He erected an invisible barrier in front of Zabuza, shoving it forward viciously and throwing the prick, as well as his two hired mercenaries, into the wall. He vanished without a trace, not allowing the man or his subordinates a view of who had pulled the feat off. After they left the room, with the shorter man cradling a broken wrist (courtesy of Haku), Naruto reappeared by Zabuza's bedside.

His lips upturned in a deviant smile as he laid a gentle hand on the man's chest, choosing to not acknowledge Jenova's comment of how muscled the man was. He channeled small wisps of healing magic to mend the cracked ribs, as well as the aftereffects of being placed in a near-death state. The large man let out a relieved sigh, Haku's mood brightening when he realized his mentor was fully healed.

After pulling up a chair next to the man's bedside, Naruto sat down to talk with the two nins.

"So Zabuza… why are you all the way out here? Last time I checked, you were still in Mist country… not that I'm complaining, mind you. It's good to see you again, and you as well, Haku."

The man reached up and removed the bandages around his face, seeing as how they were annoying to breathe through when he was supposed to be resting. He flashed a pointy grin towards the Sorceress, subtly checking the teen out and coming up with a compromise in his head to the question that was sure to be asked at some point.

"Well, I was low on money, and Gato wanted to hire me to prevent this bridge from being built. He also offered protection from hunter-nins while Haku and I stayed here, so I took him up on his offer. He's an annoying little bastard, though. Nice trick that you pulled, by the way. Gave him quite a scare." The man snickered maliciously at this point, thoroughly savoring the scared look on his employer's face when he and his hired mercenaries were blown back by an invisible force. Even Haku joined in on the laughter, his normally gentle brown eyes sparkling in delight at causing the arrogant man a bit of pain.

Naruto nodded a little, his golden eyes straying all around the room to take in Zabuza's living area, noticing that it was quite Spartan in design. It had two beds, and a door to a bathroom, and that was about it, the only luxuries being a vanity with a mirror situated atop it. A vase with a pure white lily was placed atop the vanity, obviously done by Haku. Bringing his mind back to the situation at hand, Naruto decided to ask a question that had been itching at the edge of his psyche since his encounter with the evil midget.

"Are you sure the man will even pay you? He seems more like the type to kill you off after you've done your job, but before you can be paid."

Haku looked up in alarm, having not considered that particular point, while Zabuza just nodded a little, and sat up a bit in bed to make the conversation more comfortable. The sheet slipped off his chest and pooled on his lap, causing Naruto to realize the nuke-nin was naked under the thin cloth due to his lack of pants or undergarments situated on the man's hips. This observation, of course, prompted Jenova to let out a loud wolf whistle accompanied with a shout to "TAKE IT ALL OFF!", and caused Naruto to blush a light pink, barely able to shove his embarrassment down before it triggered his magic. He averted his eyes away from the man and gave a slight cough to cover up his blush.

His actions, however, were noticed by Zabuza. Said nuke-nin had to use all his self control to avoid giggling maniacally and grinning like a mad scientist. He settled for stretching his arms above his head, cracking his neck from side to side. His plan worked like a charm, as the combination of his muscles rippling and tightening from the stretch, as well as the sheet slipping down to just above his crotch, caused the poor silver haired teen to blush a bright red, his eyes glowing slightly gold as he disappeared in a ripple, teleporting about three hundred yards away to release his emotionally charged magic in a loud explosion. He reappeared back in his chair with another polite cough, averting his entire head away from Zabuza so as to avoid the temptation. He cleared his throat and began to talk to the wall, addressing Zabuza as he was too afraid to actually face the man.

"Er… well… I came here for three reasons, actually. First and foremost was to make sure you were alright. I didn't want to hit you, but I was afraid Kakashi might do worse if I let him continue fighting. Secondly, I wanted to ask you if you had considered my offer, since though my fifteenth birthday is a month away, you're here now and I don't have to hunt you down later to get an answer. And finally, I wanted to warn you that my team's mission is to protect the bridge builder and that I really don't want to fight either of you, but I will if I must."

Haku nodded a little, a bit surprised at the boy's maturity regarding the situation. He didn't want to fight the Sorceress either, as not only was he almost sure he'd fail, but he wouldn't want to fight someone whose heart seemed so pure. He was also hoping that Zabuza would accept the teen's offer, as the man definitely deserved to have a relationship, and then they'd be able to settle down without having to fear hunter-nins at night.

Zabuza scratched the side of his cheek as he seemed to ponder his answer, when in reality he was just building up dramatic tension. He finally nodded, mostly to himself, and addressed the boy still facing the wall.

"I'm still not completely sure on agreeing to be your Knight just yet; however, I believe we could compromise? We're still mostly strangers to each other, so I suppose I could give you a more definitive answer if we got to know one another better. How about, for the next two weeks, you stay with Haku and I here so that we can learn more about you and vice versa? I'm sure your teacher knows I wasn't really dead, so he would be training your team for the next encounter. You could simply say you would be off training by yourself for the next two weeks, since that's how long it takes to normally recover from the stress placed on the body from the procedure."

Naruto turned around on his seat upon hearing the offer, nodding a bit to himself as he considered how he could pull it off. He was sure he could get Kakashi to let him go, and this would be a great chance to get to know his potential Knight better… as well as perhaps seal the deal on him becoming his Knight. After blocking Jenova's victory screams at spending two weeks with 'a ripped hottie of a Knight!', coupled with Ultimecia trying to strangle her to get her to shut up, he agreed. His dark blue lips broke out into a warm grin, which unintentionally was also quite attractive to Zabuza.

"I accept your offer. I think it would not only allow us to get to know one another a bit better, but the vacation from my team will allow me to get my temper under control. Five months with those two teammates was so… urgh…"

Haku was also pleased at the idea, wanting to learn more about the boy, and perhaps get a few tips on healing. Inner Haku, created from repressed anger and fan boy tendencies, was squealing in his head at the prospect of fine tuning his medic jutsu.

They sealed the deal by having Zabuza and Naruto shake hands. The ashen man was quite surprised at how the teen could break bones one moment, and gently shake his hand the next. Naruto decided to get a one-up on the larger man for the incident before by pulling him into a passionate lip lock, before disappearing with a jaunty wave, and a slight smirk.

Zabuza was quite surprised at the young man's daring, but his surprise melted in an instant once he realized that the boy was a natural at kissing. He barely caught the slight smirk before his mind shut down, a dazed look in his eyes. His lips unconsciously twitched into a perverted grin, a highly unmanly giggle escaping. He was quite looking forward to learning more about the young Sorceress.

Haku…fainted.

* * *

The next day, 11 am…

After Kakashi awoke late in the morning, he called his team to reveal the news that Zabuza was alive and well. Sakura's jaw dropped, Sasuke's eyes widened marginally, and Naruto… giggled perversely before snapping back to his usual apathy. Only Kakashi was able to catch the action, and asked him to stay behind while the other two went for breakfast, claiming he needed help getting around while recovering. After the two left the room, Kakashi eyed his pupil suspiciously, before using a silencing technique on the room and asking some questions.

"Naruto, do you know Zabuza personally? I noticed you were unaffected by his killing intent, and already knew he was still alive. Is there something you're hiding that could affect the mission?"

Naruto gave a sly grin to his sensei, rather pleased that the man was observant enough to catch the hints. He debated it with both his kaasans, and decided to play a little more with the man and hope he could connect the dots by himself.

"I met him while on my training trip, and I believe he might be the Knight I've been looking for. I knew he was alive because I visited him yesterday and found out about his employer. Due to the fact that the employer is a greedy little midget bastard, I may be able to get him and his apprentice to join Konoha. Neither of you will be up to fighting strength for the next two weeks, though, so I suppose you should train Sakura and Sasuke if possible. I'll be doing my own training, as well as discussing with Zabuza the probability of him joining Konoha after this mission. He's actually not that bad… I don't think he was made a nuke-nin by choice."

Kakashi thought about this for a few tense moments, still eyeing his student as he filed the newest hint away and thought about the possibility of a new ally. In the end, he grudgingly agreed, seeing as how Naruto could take care of himself if he got into trouble. He also agreed to train Sasuke and Sakura, since he'd been slacking horribly for the past five months. Most of it was spent on missions and 'team training', which was just a fancy term for 'working together to get more missions done quicker'.

After giving his student a nod, he grabbed some crutches and made his way to breakfast. Naruto teleported away towards Zabuza's hideout, glad that he got two weeks of vacation to spend away from his team.

* * *

Zabuza's Hideout, 11:30 am…

As Naruto rippled through the wall, he was hard pressed to not either sweatdrop or get a nosebleed at the scene that greeted him. Zabuza was sprawled across his bed, arms and legs every which way, his sheet was barely covering his modesty, and he was snoring uproariously. By the sound of water running in the next room, he guessed that Haku was awake and showering.

A brilliant thought entered his mind, which caused both his kaasans to rub their hands together conspiratorially, cackling with glee. He let his gi become absorbed into his body, leaving him only in his hakama pants. He slipped onto the bed next to Zabuza, wrapping both arms around the older man's stomach and snuggling up next to him. He was a little shocked at how oddly… natural… it felt to be in this position and pushed that thought aside for the moment. He laid his head on Zabuza's hairless chest, nuzzling it a little and holding in a mad cackle as he realized the nuke-nin was waking up.

The first thing Zabuza felt in the morning was oddly comfortable warmth on his side, spreading slightly onto his chest. The second thing he realized was that it felt like skin on skin contact. This prompted him to open his eyes and find out who was in bed with him. He first saw white-silver hair and tanned skin, as well as black pants, and his foggy mind took about a minute to realize he was naked in bed, barely covered by a sheet, with a rather attractive half naked male Sorceress snuggling up against him.

Said Sorceress looked up and, taking advantage of the man's shock, planted a gentle kiss on his lips before winking at him. He stepped off the bed, and pulled the same stunt Zabuza pulled the day before. He stretched his languid form, standing on the balls of his feet and holding in a grin as he noticed the nuke-nin checking him out. He seemed to have a full body golden tan, and though he didn't _look_ as muscled as the older man, that had no say on his physical strength. His stomach was flat and toned, with slight shadows hinting at a hidden six pack, with his chest and arms bolstered by sinewy muscle. With his gi off, you could clearly see the gray tribal tattoos drawn on either side of his stomach, ending just above the waist line. His body seemed to be hairless, aside from the hair on the top of his head and his eyebrows.

After noticing that Zabuza's sheet seemed to be rising, he turned away to hide his evil grin, reconstructing the gi out of his cells and allowing it to 'melt' out of his skin onto his body once again. He coughed politely to bring Zabuza out of his shock before turning around, his eyes glinting in amusement as he kept them trained on the other man's face, trying hard to not let them stray.

"You may want to cover your modesty, Zabuza-kun."

This statement prompted the nuke-nin to realize that his body was rebelling against him, causing the man to grin a little and send a teasing wink to the Sorceress.

After finding a pair of boxers and shinobi pants, dressing while his lower body was hidden by the sheet, Zabuza sat at the edge of the bed, yawning widely and looking forward to spending a day learning more about the intriguing teen.

Haku seemed to choose this exact moment to walk out of the bathroom, his hair still wet and tied back in a bun with his bangs framing his face while clothed in a pink kimono. After taking note of their company, he gave a polite wave, which Naruto answered with a nod and a slight smile. As they sat down to get to know each other better, Naruto decided that he would give them the whole truth this time. If this man was going to be his Knight, he deserved to know everything about him, as it wouldn't bode well to hide things.

The two nins were quite surprised to find out that, not only was the boy a Sorceress, but he had the cellular structure of an alien, a Sorceress living inside his mind with the aforementioned alien as guardians, and he had the powers of an Ancient. After describing his life up to the age of four, Haku realized that the boy was a kindred spirit. They both had to grow up under relatively the same conditions. However, Haku had known his parents and lived with them to the age of six, when his bloodline manifested and his father killed his mother, before being impaled on ice spikes. After recounting most of his life to the nuke-nin, he sat back and rubbed his temples wearily, waiting for their reactions.

Haku laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, supplemented with a warm smile and understanding eyes. Inner Haku, however, was absolutely orgasmic with delight that there was another ice user in the world that he could learn from! Granted, chakra and magic are completely different, but he was positive he could mimic some of Naruto's spells with his bloodline.

Zabuza was shocked that the Sorceress had a hard life at such a young age. He realized just how much power and emotional depth the boy had hidden at all times to protect himself, and that the same boy was currently not only offering a home, but also companionship to Zabuza on blind faith alone. He felt flattered that Naruto would open up this much to him when he didn't know much in return, and felt his decision edging towards becoming the young man's Knight. He reached out and pulled Naruto into a warm hug, showing that he accepted him as a person, not as a Sorceress, an Ancient, a former Jinchuuriki, or even as the Yondaime Hokage's son. He was simply Naruto, nothing more, nothing less.

The young man stiffened at the contact instinctually, before relaxing into the larger man's hold, wrapping his own arms around the former Mist nin and returning the hug.

Haku, seeing such a sentimental moment almost had tears in his eyes and had to forcibly beat Inner Haku into submission when he threatened to take over and scream "KAWAII!"

Zabuza told his story next, leaving out nothing in a show of good will towards Naruto. He was apparently a former ANBU captain at the age of sixteen, and was inducted into the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist at age seventeen. He, along with the other Swordsmen staged a coup against the Mizukage, trying to throw him out of office for his excessive cruelty and causing the Bloodline Wars. Unfortunately, a Swordsman named Hoshigaki Kisame had told the Mizukage of their plans, and helped prepare for the coup. The Mizukage was wounded, but not fatally, and he made six of the Swordsmen nuke-nins for their actions. Kisame later killed the Water Daimyo as a show of loyalty to a group of nuke-nin that he joined, and was labeled a nuke-nin for his actions.

Haku told his own story, about his bloodline and how he was accepted as an apprentice to Zabuza, swearing to serve him faithfully. Despite the fact that the **Hyouton** **(Ice Element) **bloodline is extremely deadly, he prefers to be a healer, not a fighter.

After swapping anecdotes until nightfall, a situation made itself known to the Sorceress: There were two beds, and three people. Voicing his thoughts on how he'd sleep on the ground turned out to be a bad idea, as Zabuza insisted on sharing his bed with the long haired teen. He argued that he didn't want to take a relationship too quickly, which caused the former ANBU captain to scoff, saying that 'we're not going to be naked… no matter how much I wish we were…' the last part was said in a mumble, but Naruto still caught it and had to quickly teleport away to avoid another explosion brought on by embarrassment. Climbing into bed, he let his shirt meld back into his body, saying it was more comfortable to sleep naked, but he kept his pants to preserve his modesty. Zabuza just stripped to his boxers and climbed in as well. Bidding goodnight to his new companions, Naruto slipped into slumber.

* * *

Next morning, 8 am…

Sometime during the night, it seemed that Naruto had rolled over and cuddled up to the closest source of heat, which just happened to be Zabuza. He was currently in a _highly _compromising position, with his knee in between the man's legs, both arms wrapped around his chest, and his nose pressed against the side of his neck. To make matters worse, he was unable to escape without waking the man up, as Zabuza had both arms wrapped tightly around his back, holding him close. He couldn't even teleport away because it'd take Zabuza with him.

Haku found this hilarious when he woke up, heading into the bathroom to take a shower, drowning his laughter in the running water. Jenova was cheering about how her little boy had grown up so well. She then offered him some tips on what to do next, which he ignored for the moment.

Zabuza woke up about five minutes after Haku left to shower, finding himself with his arms wrapped around a rather uncomfortable looking Naruto, and a gentle pressure against his crotch. Looking down, he realized that, due to their positioning, the teen was unable to escape without waking him, and had decided to stay as still as possible.

An evil glint sparkled in his gray eyes, deciding it was high time for some revenge for the last stunts pulled by the teen. He pressed his hips a little against the Sorceress' knee, kissing his cheek with chapped lips and whispering a groggy 'Mornin'…' The reaction caused by this was interesting to say the least. Unable to escape to release his magic in a safe manner, his eyes flashed a bright gold, and Haku let out a very unmanly shriek, letting the whole world know that it was 'COLD!'.

Zabuza snickered a little, and Naruto just looked sheepish. He untangled himself from the Mist nin, leaving a parting kiss on the lips.

Jenova and Ultimecia were having an absolute field day inside his head. They had constructed a chalkboard with tally marks on the different sexual one-ups between Zabuza and Naruto. They had upgraded the chairs to recliners, complete with cup holder, and a popcorn machine nearby as they sat back for the best two weeks _ever_.

* * *

Two weeks later…

The three had spent the last two weeks having an unspoken competition, as well as learning the more… interesting… quirks about one another (like how Haku _requires _tea in the morning with exactly two scoops of sugar, and one of honey, or else he causes wide-spread destruction, or how Zabuza reads both Icha Icha Paradise and Icha Icha Yaoi Paradise. Jenova had squealed, happy to find a fellow pervert, and Ultimecia was just shocked at how many books there were in his collection). But all good things must come to an end, and it was time for Naruto to head back to his team. Zabuza had agreed to become his Knight, but wanted to wait until he was fifteen to do the ritual, stating it would coincide with his other presents. Haku and Naruto had trained together, with Naruto showing him some of his Ice Manipulation abilities, and Haku trying to replicate the mastery through his bloodline. He was coming along quite well with it, and was now trying to create his own unique moves.

Zabuza and Naruto had come quite close, enjoying each other's company immensely. Their competition had escalated, until Naruto had scored the winning point. He had ambushed Zabuza while he was in the shower, hopped in completely nude and pulled the man into a three minute long tongue battle before disappearing without a trace. They both agreed that he had won, as there was nothing to beat that without actually having sex. While they both enjoyed the perverted competition, they had agreed to not do anything significant just yet, at least until they got back to Konoha. After that, his kaasans were having a betting pool in his head on how long it'd take for the clothes to come off and the bed to break.

Speaking of his kaasans, he had introduced them both in their normal attire to Zabuza and Haku. Jenova and Zabuza got along famously well, swapping perverted ideas. Zabuza tried to get Jenova into swordsmanship, but after she created a replica of the Masamune and showed just how proficient she was, he left the subject alone for fear of how the woman was able to handle the massive nodachi. Ultimecia was rather enamored that Haku was so interested in Ice Manipulation. She gave him a few pointers that she had picked up from being in Edea's mind, and helped him hone his abilities.

Zabuza and Haku were heading off to the bridge to knock out the workers and wait for Naruto's team to show up. Today was the day they had told Gato they would attack, which meant the money-loving midget would probably backstab them after the battle started. They agreed to fight to keep up the appearance that they were serious, but wouldn't inflict any fatal wounds.

Naruto had arrived at Tazuna's house to hear a woman scream in panic, and quickly headed around the back.

Tsunami was currently being held hostage by the same two mercenaries that had arrived with Gato. The two were discussing what to do with her when Inari had sprinted at them, yelling at them to leave her alone. The two mercs drew their swords, ready to kill the child before they both hopped back to dodge a hail of ice senbon. Naruto walked past Inari, freeing Tsunami from the rope bindings before telling them both to go back to the house and to not watch what happened next.

The two mercenaries were confident that they'd be able to kill Naruto and re-capture Tsunami, so they both charged at him, swords raised. As the swords descended on him, he twisted his body inhumanly, avoiding both and tapping the men on the front of their kneecaps, eliciting a strange sound somewhere in between a 'CRACK' and a 'CRUNCH'.

The two howled in pain, trying to back away from him with fear in their eyes. The teen simply sighed and tapped them both on the forehead, knocking them out. He tied them both up with the rope that had held Tsunami, and left them on the end of the pier. He headed quickly towards the bridge, where the sounds of fighting were occurring.

* * *

At the Bridge…

A heavy mist had settled onto the bridge, embracing it and cutting visibility. Two silhouettes emerged from the mist to greet Team 7, who were looking around at all the knocked out workers. Zabuza had instructed Haku to fight against the Uchiha, since Sakura would be guarding Tazuna. As Zabuza locked his zanbato against Kakashi's kunai, he relayed his plan to Kakashi. They were to fight but not strike fatal blows, waiting for Gato to appear. Then they'd kill Gato to free Nami no Kuni from his grip, as well as get him off Zabuza's back.

Haku had led Sasuke further into the mist, not allowing Sakura to see how he was faring. Haku didn't warn Sasuke about the deal, seeing as how the Uchiha would have to fight for his life to at least make it look decent. After some skillful use of one-handed seals, a fact that shocked Sasuke, he had him trapped in a dome of mirrors. He started to fly from mirror to mirror, launching senbon at the Genin. He was only scratching him with the needles, buying time for Gato to arrive.

Naruto had arrived on the bridge about ten minutes after the battle began. He decided to keep Sakura company by guarding Tazuna while he strained his ears for any sign that Gato may be arriving.

About thirty minutes of combat later, and Kakashi had two deep but not crippling wounds, one on his upper right chest, and one on his right forearm. Zabuza had a few kunai stuck into him, one in his calf muscle, one in his right shoulder, and a third in his right bicep. Haku only had a scorched pant leg from when Sasuke finally unlocked his Sharingan and shot a **Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Element: Grand Fireball)**, barely grazing him. Sasuke… was in a near death state. Haku was starting to run out of senbon from wasting most of them on glancing blows, so he decided it would be better to knock him out than to try hand to hand combat. Haku was just standing by his body watching both the Jounin fight.

A sound of mocking clapping echoed through the mist, which Zabuza lifted. The sight that greeted them was Gato at the head of about two hundred hired mercenaries that were armed to the teeth. In the midst of his speech about how he was just going to backstab Zabuza anyway and kill him after the bridge builder died, a muffled gurgling sound caught all of their attentions.

Sakura had apparently ran over to Sasuke once the mist lifted, checking on him. Seeing him seemingly dead, and realizing that she could have saved him if she were a competent kunoichi, had ignited something in her. She slowly and meticulously pulled out the senbon from the boy, wanting to be able to bury him without the weapons. As soon as she removed the ones from his neck, his eyes snapped open, causing her to faint from shock.

Sasuke, seeing his opponent with their back turned to him, had pulled out a kunai and driven it through the back of Haku's chest, impaling his heart. He fell forward with a muffled gurgle, his eyes wide and uncomprehending.

Gato let out a sneering laugh, saying that 'that bitch deserved it for what he did to my arm!'

The combination of seeing Haku dead, as well as Gato's mockery had caused Naruto to release his grip on his emotions. His eyes beamed a bright gold, the light calling all attention to him as his feet left the ground, floating towards the mercenaries. He knocked out Sasuke as he passed, more as an afterthought than any real anger. He kneeled next to Haku's body, a tear dripping out of his glowing eyes, before his head snapped up at Gato. The words leaving his mouth seemed to be spoken by two people at once, causing an eerie echo.

"You… you will pay… for all the suffering you have caused. For the pain of this country, as well as the pain of those that are precious to me, you shall SUFFER! **Apocalypse!**"

Zabuza and Kakashi looked on in awe as a glowing ball of light coalesced in the middle of the mercenary group, compressing in on itself and glowing brighter. As it became the size of a softball, intricately runed arcane circles inscribed themselves in the air just below their feet. The ball flew into the sky about twenty feet up, beams of light shooting from the circles to feed the ball. As soon as they all touched it, the ball shot a pillar of pure energy downward, vaporizing a few mercs instantly before it compressed in on itself. Finally, the beam seemed to disperse, the ball lowering to the ground once more. As it was descending, arcane characters appeared in the air, swirling around the group. Finally, the runes disappeared into the ball, which grew to the size of a **Goukakyuu** before exploding in a shockwave of blue energy, killing all the others and destroying a large section of the bridge.

Both Kakashi and Zabuza looked towards the boy, who had tears running in twin streams down his face as he kneeled next to the corpse of Haku. The boy stiffened momentarily, before going wide eyed in shock, the glow disappearing from his eyes. He stared at the bridge below him as if it were telling him the true meaning of life before cracking a slight smile. He stood up slowly, his staff appearing into his hands. The staff intrigued Kakashi, as he had never seen the boy use any weaponry whatsoever. Zabuza, however, realized just what the Sorceress was about to do, and his jaw dropped, being held up only by the bandage-mask.

A soft green glow enveloped Naruto, which flashed a blinding bright green-white for a moment, causing Tazuna, Zabuza, and Kakashi to blink rapidly to clear the bursting colors in their vision. When their eyes refocused, they saw a ghostly image of a young woman standing right next to Naruto, mimicking his movements perfectly. They both concentrated hard on their task, hands in a praying gesture on their identical staffs as they knelt by Haku's body.

After a moment, both stood up, raised their staffs upward, and spoke as one. Instead of an eerie two tone echo, it had his normal voice overlaid by a soft female voice. His voice as well as hers sounded across the deathly silent bridge the green glow enveloped them again.

"Your soul has been declared redeemable by the Lifestream, Haku. We will give you another chance at life."

With that said, shocking the three conscious people on the bridge, as well as the mob of villagers who were rounded up to kill Gato, both Naruto and the ghostly form of Aeris started to dance, twirling their staffs as black rain clouds gathered above them. They both brought down the butt of their staffs at the same time, shaking the bridge from the combined physical force as they called out the spell's name:

"**Great Gospel!"**

Brilliant green raindrops poured down all over the bridge, causing everyone to look on in awe as all the wounds on Kakashi healed. The kunai were forcefully shoved from Zabuza's figure as his wounds were also healed. The senbon wounds on Sasuke healed as well, leaving only holes in his clothing to remember them by. And finally, Haku's wound closed, his body glowing green briefly before his eyes snapped open, his lungs gasping for air.

He sat up hastily, looking around for the phantom attacker that had killed him in the first place, seeing only an unconscious Uchiha without senbon in him, a fainted Haruno, and then a crowd of villagers staring in shock and awe along with Zabuza and Kakashi at something to the side of him. He turned his head towards what they were looking at, to see both Naruto and the soul of Aeris in identical postures, holding identical staffs, and giving him identical warm smiles, their eyes glittering in slight sadness. They spoke as one once more, nearly making him faint at the information passed on.

"The Ancients have deemed you worthy of a second chance at life for the circumstances of your death, Haku. Use it well."

With that said, Aeris turned to Naruto and slipped him a scroll, as well as a small white-green marble with a muttered "Happy early birthday, Naruto-kun." She faded out of existence soon after, Naruto's eyes falling slowly closed from weariness. Zabuza sprinted over and caught him as he fell, smiling slightly in slumber.

"Zabuza-san… what happened to me?"

Kakashi broke out of his reverie to walk over and check on his other two students, content that Naruto was safe in the arms of the nuke-nin. He listened closely, hoping to get another hint to add to his list on his secretive student. Zabuza's voice was soft, as if afraid to wake the young Sorceress, as he addressed Haku, watching in slight awe as the scroll, the marble, and the staff disappeared in a flash of light, presumably back to wherever the staff came from.

"The pink haired girl removed the senbon from the Uchiha when you weren't looking, and the first thing he did was slip a kunai into your heart. Naruto here saw you die and something snapped. He _floated _over to your body, condemned Gato and his mercenaries to suffer for their actions, and used a Forbidden skill to absolutely obliterate him and his group. I think he called it… Apocalypse. Afterward, he knelt next to you and seemed to pray, before that woman showed up. They both did a little dance and it started raining green, all our wounds healed, and you were brought back to life."

Naruto chose that moment to stir from his slumber, looking up at Zabuza and smiling weakly, before looking at Haku. His voice was barely above a murmur as he addressed the ice user.

"When you died, I wanted nothing more than to bring you back to life… the Planet spoke to me… and told me what to do… said something about you being redeemable…"

Kakashi's head twirled to look at him so fast you actually could hear his neck joints cracking in protest to the movement. His voice cracked and stuttered a little at what his student had said, hope glimmering in his eyes.

"Y-you can revive the d-dead?"

Naruto wearily shifted in Zabuza's hold, snuggling closer to his warmth as he addressed his teacher before falling back to sleep.

"I can't… only the Planet can do so… it chooses who can be revived or not… and can only revive those who are newly dead..."

Kakashi's eyes seemed to dim as he slipped the hitai-ate back over his left eye. He picked up both Sakura and Sasuke, walking up to Tazuna and tapping him on the shoulder to break him out of his shock. He motioned with his head to lead the way back to the house.

Zabuza helped Haku stand up, carrying Naruto bridal style behind Kakashi. They were both looking forward to heading to Konoha.

* * *

Next morning, 7:00 am…

Naruto woke with a pounding headache, chapped lips, and was aching all over his body. He oddly wondered what hit him, and at what speed…

As his mind cleared a bit of the morning fogginess, he realized he was back in Tazuna's house, and was currently being held protectively against Zabuza's chest as he slept. The familiar sight brought a smile to his face as he snuggled back against the older man, slipping into a deep meditative trance to ask his kaasans what exactly happened.

* * *

Inside what used to be the seal…

Naruto appeared next to the recliner chairs, examining the chalkboard. He wanted to see how many points they both racked up during those two weeks, as his kaasans wouldn't tell him. He held in a slight snicker as he read the board, realizing that they kept detailed reports on each event.

Naruto: 69 (here Jenova scribbled something about having an awesome number)

Zabuza: 68

He looked around for any sign of his kaasans, and saw that they were both sleeping in. Jenova was snoring slightly, and Ultimecia was mumbling about pudding. He looked over at the bookshelf next to the monitor, and blinked a bit in surprise. He didn't remember there being a marble or a new scroll next to his staff…

He picked it up, realizing it was just the right size to place in the indentation in his staff. He placed it in the small pocket in the handle, his eyes widening a little as the staff seemed to glow for a moment before it retreated. He stared accusingly at the small gem, as if daring it to try to deny it caused the glow. Realizing he was enacting a death glare on an inanimate object, he inspected the scroll. He recognized it as Aeris' handwriting, and it looked recent.

_Naruto-kun,_

_It seems you have summoned me earlier than your birthday. If you need the details of why or how you did it, ask your kaasans. This letter is to explain the gem I gave you as a birthday present. I would have given it to you on your actual birthday, but as you have summoned me, I cannot appear for awhile longer and it would be late. The gem is actually the White Materia, handed down to me from my mother. She said that it was the ultimate defensive magic, creating a barrier to protect the planet. I was forced to use it when Sephiroth summoned Meteor, and it was able to block it. The White Materia is called Holy, and can only be used in times of extreme stress, when the user is needed to protect the very Planet itself at all costs. I hope you never have to use it, but if you do, all you need to do is find a place that is special to you and pray for it there. If the Planet realizes that it's being threatened and needs protection, it will allow you to cast the spell._

_I hope you like my gift._

_-Aeris_

By this point both his kaasans had awoken and were reading over his shoulder. Jenova's eyes were wide in recognition of the spell, while Ultimecia was wondering how powerful it was.

After filling Naruto in on what had happened after Haku died, he left his mind, pondering over the fact that he had used Forbidden Magic without meaning to. It was powerful, to be sure, but it was too destructive. He would stand by his restrictions to never use it unless he really needed to.

* * *

Back in Tazuna's house...

As he woke up from his meditative trance, he felt that Zabuza's breathing changed, signaling that he was awake. He twisted in the man's hold and gave him a soft kiss, hugging him tightly and mumbling a little.

"I'm sorry I went berserk on Gato and his mercenaries… that's the reason why I don't use Forbidden Magic… it's far too destructive. I'm glad that Haku-kun is back, though. I would've felt horrible if he was dead…"

Zabuza gave a slight grin, picking the boy up bridal style as he was still quite weak from the previous day. Haku and Kakashi walked in on this, a fully clothed Naruto laying limp like a corpse while glaring a little at Zabuza, who was shirtless and holding him. Haku giggled a little, and Kakashi raised his only visible eyebrow. Naruto, seeing this, decided to avoid the questions by asking one of his own.

"Can we head to Konoha now? After my little power display at the bridge, I doubt that anyone would dare try to prevent it from being built. Plus… I can't move for the rest of the day, meaning Zabuza-kun here has to carry me."

Kakashi's eye curved upwards in a smile before he turned to exit the room, calling back over his shoulder.

"Of course, Naruto. We'll leave once Sakura and Sasuke are up. Although I don't exactly approve of the means used, Sakura has come to me asking how she could better herself as a kunoichi. Apparently seeing Sasuke 'dead' made her rethink her career."

At this, Naruto grinned, twirling one finger around in a circle as he voiced a sarcastic 'Woo' before slipping the sleeves back over his fingertips. He looked up at Zabuza and made a half smirk, still too tired to do much other than lay like a rag doll.

"When we get to Konoha we'll have to see the Sandaime and get you and Haku-kun taken out of the Bingo Book, and then reinstated as Konoha shinobi… after that, you get to carry me to my house! Onward, my faithful steed!"

To this, Zabuza snickered a little, whispering something into the boy's ear and causing him to blush lightly. Kakashi couldn't get the whole sentence, but he distinctly heard the word 'ride', and a perverse giggle escaping the larger man.

Inside his head, Jenova was prancing around in a victory dance as she put another mark for Zabuza. She turned and gave her patented 'victory stance' to Ultimecia, which looked disturbingly like the 'good guy pose' with the gleaming teeth and everything, saying something about how the 'two lovers are tied with the magical number of sixty nine!'

The road back to Konoha never seemed so long.

* * *

Author's Note: Although I made a pretty big deal out of Aeris giving Naruto the White Materia, I won't make him use it. Or maybe just have him use it once or something. It was more of a sentimental gift than anything else. Next chapter will be a filler chapter, used to flesh out Zabuza and Naruto's relationship, as well as his fifteenth birthday. It might also span into the pre-Chuunin Exam thing so that I can start the chapter after it directly at the Academy.

I'm not sure if I should write actual sexual scenes, or just heavily hint at them, so it's up to the readers with that. I also remembered that I had totally forgot something important, so that'll be included in the next chapter. I'll give you a hint: It's got something to do with a Sorceress' powers. Mainly, every Sorceress has a unique power. Edea had Ice, Ultimecia had Time/Space, Adel had Force, and Rinoa had Primal Magic. Care to take a guess at the one Naruto will be given?

Reviews keep Inner Haku at bay, so that we may be saved from the wrath that is the fan boy inside.

Next chapter: Returning to Konoha


	6. Back to Konoha!

Author's Note: Drummed this up after thinking about what ability to give Naruto. It took awhile for me to get it all figured out in my head, hence the slight lateness as opposed to my usual machine-gun style of updating. I went with something that I think is original when it comes to giving an element to Naruto. TAKE THAT, WIND ELEMENTAL NARUTOS! BAHAHAHA! Insanity aside, there is heavy Zabuza/Naruto stuff in here, with an immense amount of suggestion. I'm giving people until the end of the Chuunin Exams, which will probably be the chapter after next chapter, to decide if they want me to write out the sex or if I should just heavily hint at it. To make sure I stay true to my readers, I won't update until I get a clear answer to whether or not people want it. I don't want to write something that people will skip over, or not want to read.

To the reviewers!

**LovePsycho**: I'm really really tempted. I gave a slight hint of what _might _have caused the Uchiha Massacre in this chapter, but nothing is concrete. I'll let people decide whether to let Sasuke die or not, 'cause I'm not preventing the Cursed Seal. He could very well be Orochi-pedo's new boytoy if people wanted it, but there is no way in hell I'm going in depth to that. Eww...snake man... tongue fetish...

**moonlit dew**: I always thought Haku probably had an Inner Haku, because he was so damn nice. His own father tried to kill him! He has to have anger SOMEWHERE... and it went straight to Inner Haku. Bwahaha. I thought it was only natural to make Haku bi, which I did hint at in this chapter. Hence, all his fan-boy tendencies have been channeled into his Inner Haku, who can squeal all he wants, while Haku still looks as calm as ever on the outside. Inside, though... he's beating that damn personality into submission. He won't allow it to take over! NEVER!!...unless he walks in on some steamy Zabuza/Naruto action, I suppose. Then again, he might just faint instead.

Enjoy the chapter!

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"**Spell/Technique/Jutsu"**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, any of the Final Fantasies, or any of their characters. If I did, I'd have Squall and Sasuke date each other, because they both have angst levels OVER NINE THOUSAND!! (I don't own Dragon Ball Z either.)

* * *

Return to Konoha

Sasuke and Sakura were quite surprised to find out that the nuke-nin they had been fighting would be coming back to Konoha with them. Of course, the surprise could have also stemmed from the fact that Haku's glare at Sasuke literally dropped the surrounding temperature to below freezing levels, or that Zabuza was quite… close… to Naruto. The teen was even smiling while being carried! SMILING. That was like Kakashi not reading his Icha Icha.

As they walked along the path, taking a leisurely route from the stressful mission instead of taking to the treetops, Naruto was mulling over Sakura's decision to take her job more seriously. He stretched out a hair-thin thread of his power, gently tapping into her core to find out her chakra's elemental nature. He was quite surprised that she was Water natured, something usually reserved for level headed medic nins, or the majority of Mist Country. There were theories that the environmental conditions one is raised in affects the chakra nature. He decided to ask her about her decision since Sasuke was currently eyeing Haku up and down when he thought the ice manipulator wasn't looking, who was trying real hard to not castrate said Uchiha with a senbon.

"Hey Sakura, can you come over here for a second?"

The pink haired girl was surprised that her currently semi-immobile teammate wanted to talk with her. She was brought out of her musings as she walked closer to Zabuza, giving him a shaky smile, as if thinking it was a scam to get her within sword swinging range…

She shook that thought out of her head, her logical side of her mind screaming that if he wanted to kill them all, why was he carrying Naruto back to Konoha for them?

"What did you want, Naruto?"

Her temperament had taken quite a dampening from the sight of seeing her 'Sasuke-kun' dead, quelling her homicidal tendencies… somewhat.

"I was wondering if you're truly going to take your job as a kunoichi seriously, or if this is something you'll start, and then quit because it's too much work."

She blinked a little, surprised that he'd even be interested in her affairs. She tapped her chin as she thought it over, wondering to herself if she would give up just because it was too hard. Flashbacks of Naruto saving them from Zabuza, then the mysterious incident where he had taken out Gato while both she and his third teammate were incapacitated. Finally, she remembered seeing Sasuke's pale body, and how all she did was stand in front of the bridge builder, acting as a last defense. She finally nodded vigorously, both to shake the thought out of her mind, and to answer his question.

"Yes. I don't want to ever feel that helpless again. Being a ninja means to be able to protect yourself, and fight for yourself, never relying on others to do it for you. True, we work in teams, but how can you expect a teammate to fight for you if you can't do the same for them?"

The Sorceress was quite shocked at how mature she was being. Just two days ago she was probably trying to gather hair, sloughed skin, and (if she was feeling invasive) a blood sample from her 'wonderful Sasuke-kun' to show off to the rest of the fanclub. They would have made her honorary president for a day to get such 'intimate pieces of our Sasuke-kun!'

He smiled a bit, realizing that she could actually become a great kunoichi if she put her mind to it, shocking her again that he. Was. SMILING. Not glaring, not being apathetic, but actually smiling. And not to Zabuza this time, it was to her! Inner Sakura was currently ranting about how hot his smile looked, and that he actually smiled instead of the ice cube known as Sasuke. That prompted her to materialize a nail bat and bludgeon her split personality to near death to make it shut up. His response actually shocked her further.

"Well, since you're actually going to take your job seriously, I suppose I could tell you your chakra nature without having to go searching for one of those tiny slips of paper. You're mostly water natured, but you still have some parts that are neutral, suggesting that you could have a dual nature before you get to Jounin. Water based ninjutsu are mostly support and defense, with their offensive attacks being mainly blunt force from crushing the enemy with the water. You also have great chakra control, though your chakra stamina… sucks for lack of a better term. Hey Zabuza-kun, do you think you and Haku-kun might be able to help her a little? I don't want her to get discouraged because water is a rare nature in Konoha, and we don't have many people that could teach her how to use it."

The Mist-nin looked between the Sorceress and his teammate, seeing the unbridled shock and hope showing through Sakura's eyes. From one of his rants about his teammates, he learned that the only thing holding them back from being excellent shinobi and kunoichi were their personality flaws. Sakura's was mainly her fangirl-ism, and Sasuke's was his unnatural obsession with his brother. Incest is the best; put your brother to the test? He shook that disturbing thought out of his head and locked it within the deepest recesses of his mind, never to be opened again. He called Haku over to ask him his opinion on the matter, who was quite glad to be able to help the cherry blossom. He finally nodded, if a bit reluctantly. Helping to train the girl would take some of his 'Naruto Time'. However… Naruto might be helping her train as well, due to his slight ability with healing magic and his great control. If he could somehow replicate his magic into chakra-natured jutsu, the girl could learn it as a medic-nin… He finally spoke up, his rough voice shocking the eavesdropping Sasuke and Kakashi, as well as the pink haired girl in question.

"Sure, why not? I know I'll be under probation with Haku once we join Konoha, so I might as well show them that I'm serious about being a loyal shinobi. Plus, between Haku's bloodline, for creativity, and my supply of water jutsu's, we should be able to help you go from Academy Student to near-Chuunin level by the time the Exams come around. However, they'll be the most grueling weeks of your life. Are you ready to train incredibly hard from the time the sun rises to past when it sets?"

After the young woman's emphatic nod, Zabuza gave her a slight smile. Which, since he had his mask off, could actually be seen. The pointy teeth seemed to glint a little… sadistically… at the thought of having a few weeks to train her as much as he could. Even Haku was rubbing his hands together, stifling an evil cackle. Sasuke… was brooding. How come the dobe knew such powerful nins? Why wouldn't they want to train him, a great Uchiha? It must be Itachi's fault! Itachi…

Naruto looked up with a slightly disoriented look on his face; the sheer power of the Angst Tidal Wave had nearly given him a concussion due to his magic's sensitivity to emotion. It had even effected him when it wasn't his emotion, damnit! How emotionally expressive could that bastard be when his lips only seemed to form a scowl or a smirk?! He looked over at the brooding Uchiha and flipped him off, showing his clawed nail for a moment before it disappeared back into his sleeve. The slight glimpse was the final hint he would give Kakashi, and the man would be on his own now. Zabuza had also felt the angst wave, and snickered a little at the Sorceress' reaction to it. Haku was shuffling through his backpack looking for some black nail polish and black lipstick, obviously having been temporarily converted to the 'Dark Side' from the overpowering emo-ness. A quick slap to the back of his head brought him out of it right before he was could belt out a heart-warming (or wrist-cutting) rendition of "Crawling in my Skin".

Kakashi was quite intrigued at a few things by this point. Firstly, he was surprised that the nuke-nin would agree to help Sakura. Secondly, he was surprised that Sakura was really and truly serious. And finally, he was almost there to his student, who he was sure must be mocking him for not figuring it out yet. Clawed fingernails attached to elegant, longer than normal fingers, superhuman strength, seal less jutsu, he FLOATED… glowing golden eyes, odd tattoo markings, finding his 'Knight'…

Finally it connected, and his head whipped around to stare at the limp figure of his enigmatic student. Said student merely winked at him, using odd signs with his hands to tell the ex-ANBU captain that he'd talk to him once they got to Konoha, and to meet him at his house.

By the time they had arrived in Konoha, Sasuke's Angsty Aura had multiplied. Apparently his mind couldn't get off its Itachi rant for the rest of the three hour trip back home. Flowers were wilting, children were crying to their parents, Tora was snuggling up to his leg, purring at the kindred spirit, and Naruto could swear that Sakura almost looked… repulsed at the aura. As they waved to the guards (who blinked rapidly, as one would do to smelling something horribly foul when they noticed Sasuke's aura) they heard it. The sound that had many grown men cowering in fear. The stampede of feet.

As the horde of Sasuke-fangirls (and boys) rounded the corner, Sasuke's mind immediately thought _'Damn you Itachi! Even now you mock me with fangirls!'_

This thought was the final straw, and Naruto tugged at Zabuza's arm to get him to back away from the Uchiha. Sasuke's Brooding Black Cloud of Doom that was hovering over his head exploded, causing a physical backlash to ripple through the entire area, breaking windows, changing radio stations to the All Day Linkin Park Broadcast, and halting his stampede in its tracks. The Yamanaka Flower Shop was, thankfully, protected against such occurrences since before the Uchiha Massacre, making one wonder if perhaps Itachi was pushed over the edge by _his _fanpeople…

Naruto… grabbed Haku and Sakura in both arms, using his magic to slip them, as well as Zabuza, through the ground and teleport to the Hokage's office. Kakashi had immediately **Shunshin**'ed away as soon as the Angst Aura had reached epic proportions.

* * *

Hokage's Office…

Seeing Kakashi and two thirds of Team 7, as well as two known Mist nuke-nin, appear into his office with varying abilities was certainly a way to start the day. Sakura looked positively disturbed at the feeling of her first time truly teleporting. Haku and Zabuza were staring at Naruto, as if wondering how the hell he could ever get used to that odd sensation. Naruto… was snuggling into Zabuza's chest, mock-whining to 'Never leave me with Sasuke again. I could have DIED from that last one.'

The Hokage cleared his throat, causing them all to look at him as if _he_ were the newcomer, raising their eyebrows in question and causing the Sandaime to sweatdrop hard enough to tilt his chair halfway off the floor from the size of it.

He coughed again and politely asked where Sasuke was. The whole team looked up at him with a dumbfounded expression, obviously having forgotten about him until a "DAMN YOU, ITACHI!" broke the silence, stomping footsteps echoing up the stairwell before the door slammed open, with a sweating, nervously twitching Sasuke stepping in before slamming it closed.

The Hokage smiled kindly, as if such an appearance was a normal occurrence in his office. He sent an absent-minded death glare to rival that of a Branch Member Hyuuga's at the paperwork piled on either side of him, reaching six feet in height. It seemed as if using **Kage Bunshin** didn't help at all! It just grew FASTER in direct proportion to how fast it was done! One stray wind would blow it all down… he finally brought his mind back to matters at hand.

"Kakashi-kun, how was your mission? And why are two ex-Mist-nin in my office, one of them holding one of your students bridal style?"

The man knew why they were there, it was quite obvious from Naruto's lips unconsciously twitching in a smile as he wrapped both arms around Zabuza's waist while being carried.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head sheepishly, his hair not moving an inch from the action, making Naruto speculate that the man either gelled it, or possibly it… was a wig! No… it couldn't be a wig. Not even wigs were that stiff…

"Well, there were some complications with the mission, and we had to engage these two in combat twice. The second time was a fake, though, as they were trying to get their employer to appear so that they could kill him. The man was greedy, and planning to kill them off before they could be paid so they came back with us after the mission. Apparently Naruto's quite close to them… anyway. Mission accomplished. Gato is dead, and the bridge will be safe while they fix the damages from Naruto's… ahem… power display."

At this, the aged Hokage went wide eyed with shock and stared at the limp figure in Zabuza's arms, who laughed a little and shrugged, as if it wasn't _that _bad. He just killed two hundred mercenaries and a tyrant, as well as obliterating a good portion of extra-strength concrete and steel…

Sarutobi puffed his pipe a little, nodding his head absently. He asked Sakura and Sasuke to leave the room, taking note of Naruto's meaningful stare to understand that Kakashi had the right to know now. After they were gone, Naruto snapped his fingers again, putting a silencing spell around the room which glowed purple for a moment before fading.

His Jounin-sensei stared suspiciously at him a little as Zabuza laid him into a chair. Both he and Haku took chairs on either side of the young Sorceress, with Kakashi taking a chair next to Zabuza. The Hokage's eyes twinkled in amusement as he broke the silence with a question that had Kakashi's jaw dropping, causing his cloth mask to tear a little from the force of it.

"So, Naruto, I see you found your Knight?"

The Sorceress smiled a little sheepishly, lifting his clawed fingers to scratch lightly at one of his tattoo markings on his cheek. He sent a playful glance at his teacher before responding.

"Yes I have, Hokage-sama. I would like both him and his apprentice to be instated as Konoha shinobi, and I'm sure the Council won't object. Well, they will when they find out that they let a bloodline slip through their grasp, since Haku will be under my protection, but if they pull anything, I swear… my little power surge at the bridge will seem minor in comparison."

Haku looked up a little, shocked that Naruto would be so protective towards him. He smiled softly as he realized what the teen was saying: You are part of my family now.

Zabuza grinned, showing off his pointy teeth at the thought of causing a League of Annoyingly Ordinary Gentlemen (and women) to get their panties in a twist from not being able to turn his apprentice into breeding stock.

After sorting out the mission payment for an A-rank mission, as well as giving both Zabuza and Haku Jounin vests, and telling Haku that he could learn a bit more about medicine at the Hospital, the Hokage let them leave.

Naruto allowed Kakashi to follow them back to his house, as he pointed out the directions to Zabuza who was still acting as chauffer. He would swish his arm about a bit, yelling out dramatically "Take a left here, my faithful servant!" or "Onward and forward! We shall be there before sunset!"

Most of the villagers along the way were quite shocked that A) the 'Demon Brat' (as they had learned in the two weeks Team 7 was away; Mizuki spilled the info after leaving the hospital) had two Jounins for an escort, and B) that the Demon must have worked his demonic charms on the two to get them to serve him. Haku and Zabuza were hard pressed to hold off their snickers as they saw the pure, unadulterated fear in the villagers' eyes.

They finally reached the apartment that Naruto owned. It was actually more of a small house, but he still had to pay rent, so he called it his apartment. When questioned on the topic, he replied 'I won't call it a house if I have to pay rent, damnit.'

Naruto molded his cells, bringing the key to the house out of his body, causing Haku to stare in astonishment, and Zabuza to break out into a lecherous grin at all the uses that ability would have in the bedroom… His thoughts were echoed by Jenova, squealing that she called dibs on teaching 'her boy how to work it like a pro!' Ultimecia just shook her head in resignation. She supposed that Jenova would always be like this, no matter what she did... maybe she should, instead of trying to beat her, join her in her escapade to get their son laid...

After Zabuza opened the door, he walked in with Naruto in his arms and inspected the place. He was slightly surprised that it had three bedrooms, to which Naruto replied that he had rented it with him and Haku in mind, though the third bedroom could be used as a guest if Zabuza still wanted to sleep in the same bed as him. He laid on the couch with Naruto still in his arms as Haku kept the door open politely for the 'sneaky' Jounin, who scratched his head a bit at being found out. As the man sat down, a familiar purple glow enveloped the room, allowing the perverted sensei to ask the question that had been bugging him all the way home.

"Naruto, are you a Sorcerer?"

Said Sorceress snickered, as did Haku and Zabuza, when they heard the question. At Kakashi's questioning eyebrow, he elaborated.

"I'm considered a Sorcer_ess_, since I received my powers from a Sorceress. There have never been male Sorceresses, but there haven't been Sorcerers either. Since I have the power of a Sorceress, I label myself as such. And like I said earlier, Zabuza is my Knight. When I did my introduction, I said my dream was to 'find my Knight'. I had found him before I came to Konoha, I just had to hope that he'd accept the offer."

Kakashi nodded his head a little, wondering how he should phrase his next question. His thoughts were derailed as Naruto seemed to read his mind and answer it before he could ask.

"No, I'm not evil. Sorceresses are not inherently evil. Think of it this way: are Jinchuuriki's inherently evil? Or are they pushed to the brink of insanity from the ostracizing, the hatred, and the stigma of being labeled as such? Sorceresses had to suffer the same conditions back when they were relatively uncommon, and most tried hard to break away from the stereotype. A lot fell from grace, however, due to how humanity always viewed things 'different' as 'inherently evil'. They also misunderstood that, when a Sorceress loses control from not having a Knight, she isn't controlling her actions. So they believe that they all love wanton destruction. I was still slightly in control on the bridge, but my emotions were too strong at the point in time to hold back at all."

Kakashi blinked a little in surprise at the emotion showing through his speech. Zabuza and Haku just glanced a little sadly at the Sorceress, as he lay back against Zabuza, relaxing a bit. He seemed to speak to thin air, making his sensei question his sanity.

"You want to come out and meet him? Alright, kaasan…"

His eyes shone a vibrant gold as the air behind the couch shimmered, materializing into a beautiful woman. She was about 5'8", had metallic silver hair, the same tattoo markings as Naruto but colored, as well as complete. She also had nearly the same shade of eye color as him, but hers were a bit brighter. She was wearing a dark violet kimono, with the same wide sleeves that Naruto normally wore. Kakashi immediately went into defensive stance, not knowing how this woman appeared without anyone sensing her. What she said destroyed all thoughts of potentially winning against her as an opponent.

"I would suggest you relax, Kakashi-san. I am Ultimecia, one of Naruto's adoptive kaasans. I am the one that gave him a portion of my power, and I simply wanted to meet you. Since you seemed to be an understanding individual, I'll allow you to some information about the Sorceresses. If you're wondering why my name is familiar, I am the one who cast Time Compression. Though the wide-spread destruction wasn't my intention, as I was trying to prevent all other Sorceresses from suffering the same living conditions I had to suffer from. Naruto, while he is a Sorceress, never grew up during the time where Sorceresses weren't extinct. He, as well as I, will be the final two Sorceresses on the face of this Planet, as he can never die, and since I simply live in his mind, I will never die as well. Since we cannot die, we cannot give our power out entirely to another individual, stemming the Sorceress Legacy from continuing."

Zabuza and Haku were quite shocked by this, as Naruto had left out the part where he would be unable to die. The Sorceress in question had a tear running down his cheek as he buried his face into Zabuza's chest, a soft mumble coming from him.

"Due to my body's cellular structure, I'll never be able to be absorbed into the Lifestream and reincarnated like other humans. The same goes for Jenova-kaasan. I didn't want to tell you about this because it means I'll outlive you, and I didn't want you to have to worry about it."

Kakashi, too, was shocked. Immortality was quite depressing when you thought of it that way. Never being able to die, and watching everyone around you grow old without you. Being the same age as you watched friends be born, live their lives, grow old and die without you. To be truly… alone.

The air shimmered again, and a second woman appeared. This one was taller than Ultimecia, about 6'0", with a light blue skin tone and dark blue lips to match the shade of Naruto's. She had ethereal white hair that seemed to float weightlessly behind her as she strode over to the couch and gently pat Naruto's back. When the group of shinobi's saw her eyes, two pairs of eyes widened in recognition, and Kakashi's widened in shock. She had one softly glowing sea-green eye, and a brightly glowing piercing red eye. She was clothed in a silver kimono, with regular sleeves.

"I am Jenova, Naruto's second adoptive kaasan. I gave him my cellular structure back when he was 4, and I had told him the consequences of it. He accepted, but I fear that, after learning what it was to truly care about someone who didn't live in his mind, he may be regretting his decision. I summoned myself so that I may offer the same deal to both of you, Zabuza and Haku. I can tell you both truly do care for him, and the news that he would continue living while you both died seemed to sadden you. I'll give you both two weeks to a month to think about it, as it is quite a decision. Basically, you'll be given the 'bloodline' that Naruto has, but to a lesser extent. You would be immortal like he is, and be rejected by the Lifestream as he is, but since neither of you have Sorceress powers like he does, nor extensive Mana, the fuel for spells, as I do, you would not be able to manipulate your cells. Since the procedure's effects would be lessened, so would the medical coma you would enter while your cells were reconstructed. It would only take about a day to wake up, as opposed to two weeks."

Haku…fainted. Kakashi's jaw hit the floor, taking his mask with it, and knocking him out from the force of the jaw drop. And Naruto shook his head sadly when he saw the determined glint in Zabuza's eyes. He voiced his thoughts before the man could instantly accept.

"No… I don't want anyone else to be given the curse of Immortality. Nobody else should have to be rejected by the Planet. It's… inhumane…"

Zabuza merely chuckled, giving the teen a kiss on the lips. He looked up at Jenova with a smirk, his gray eyes flashing in defiance.

"I accept your offer. Not just because it would allow me to stay with Naruto forever, but also because he _needs _me to be here. Without his Knight, he would be able to destroy the entire planet if his powers got out of control. I knew when accepting the position to be his Knight that I'd be by his side forever, and if that means being immortal with him, then bring it on. I don't care if I have to see my friends dying, so long as I do have someone to be with and share both the gift, and the curse, of immortality with. I won't decide for Haku, so we'll have to wait for him to wake up to answer."

At this… Naruto looked up wide eyed with shock, barely keeping his magic repressed as his mind swam with emotion. He held the older man in an almost bone-crushing hug, the pain dramatically lessened by the passionate kiss supplementing it.

Jenova and Ultimecia broke out of their 'serious face', as they called it whenever they were talking with other people, and started chanting encouragements, and waving around banners with "GO NARUTO GO" and "USE THAT TONGUE" on them.

A few minutes later and both Haku and Kakashi were stirring, so the two had to stash away their stuff in the delightful dimension of Hammerspace, the dimension that all women have access to. It's what allows them to pull large mallets, pointy objects, and various other implements of torture out of thin air when they discover a pervert. It also keeps changes of clothing, should their clothing be inexplicably shredded. (A/N: Some men also have access to this feature, or parts of this dimension, namely that Armstrong fellow who's flexing keeps ripping his shirts.)

Waking up on the floor was becoming a rather common scene for poor Haku. He looked up, to see his mentor currently waging a tongue-war with the Sorceress, and had to look away to pummel Inner Haku with a folding chair, smashing him into submission before he could squeal at the sight. His inner battle won, he coughed politely. Unfortunately, the two were too engrossed in their war of attrition, and it seemed that Zabuza was winning through experience. When the hands started roaming to the lower bodies, Haku pulled out a cheerleader horn and coughed through it, catching their attention. He stashed that, too, back into Hammerspace before giving them a rather pointed stare.

Jenova and Ultimecia had their 'serious faces' on, standing there and looking aristocratic and noble, as if they hadn't just been cheering on their son a few minutes ago. However, Jenova was the first one to break when Zabuza's hand gave Naruto's butt a subtle squeeze, and she yelled out "SCORE ONE FOR THE HOTTIE KNIGHT!" before pulling the chalkboard out of the mindscape, scribbling another tally mark under Zabuza (aka Hottie Knight), with a detailed description of how he got the point. Haku had to restrain the urge to sweatdrop at the sight, seeing many other such scribbles and tally marks all over the board.

Jenova stashed the chalkboard back to where it came from and resumed her 'serious face' so suddenly it almost seemed as if Haku was hallucinating.

Kakashi, who, by this time had finally woken up, coughed into his mask after pulling it back up to hide his face. This action finally broke the two up, neither looking the least bit ashamed that they were passionately making out, on the couch, with company over.

Haku was deep in thought about Jenova's offer, currently weighing his options. He had vowed that he would serve Zabuza, but did he want to be immortal to do it..?

After shooing Kakashi out, and telling him to not mention any of this to anyone, or else the consequences shall be quite dire to his manhood (at which the poor Jounin had terrible flashbacks of what happened to the poor Demon Brother, who almost got castrated by the large javelin of ice), Zabuza and Naruto were cuddling on the couch, and Haku was checking out the bedrooms in the house, contemplating Jenova's offer.

Later that night, Zabuza had the procedure done, and had his cells altered. He was quite happy that he got to spend the next day in bed with Naruto, even if it was him in a coma, and Naruto meditating with his arms around the unconscious nin.

* * *

Two days later, 8 am…

Zabuza woke up, about a day and a half after going into the coma. He looked up at Naruto, whose face was absolutely passive as he meditated. The boy had been meditating for the past two days, his body not needing to rest. Meditation, to him, was about 95 percent awake, with 5 percent sleep, giving his body the needed rest, while keeping his mind alert.

Zabuza smirked a little deviously, pulling the meditating Sorceress into, what Jenova would later call the 'best instance where tongue was used, regardless of morning breath, _EVER._'

After the kiss was broken, mainly to 'damn lungs needing oxygen', Naruto pulled Zabuza into his arms, hugging the naked man's back to his chest.

"Thank you for doing this, Zabuza-kun. You mean a lot to me, not just as a Knight, but as a person. Even if I didn't say it, I would have been devastated if you had died."

Zabuza chuckled a little at this, twisting around in the gentle hold and kissing the silver-white haired teen on the lips.

"Don't get too emotional on me, or something will explode, remember? I would have accepted the deal regardless of being your Knight. I never would have thought that I'd settle down with anyone, but I can see it happening with you, and I'd give anything to hold onto that as long as possible. It's a great feeling."

Naruto smiled wide, a single tear of happiness falling from his right eye. This, of course, caused a (seemingly) random explosion of power, directly centered on Tora the cat who was being chased by Team 8. Said cat went up in flames, causing Hinata to find it easily and put out the fire with the help of her Jounin sensei. The two started debating about the chances of the cat being able to spontaneously combust, and the effects it may have if it happened while the Fire Daimyo's Wife hugged it.

Naruto pulled Zabuza into a deep kiss, turning the hobby of "Kissing Zabuza" into a full contact sport, claiming he needed to make sure that 'everything still worked properly' as he pressed a clothed knee against the other man's groin, kneading it gently.

Jenova, who had pirated a volume of Icha Icha Yaoi Paradise from Zabuza's collection to take with her into the mindscape, was cackling maniacally. Ultimecia, however, had adopted the way of the ninja, and had stolen the book from Jenova and was reading it, awakening her inner pervert as she watched her son tease the infamous Demon of the Mist. She looked over at Jenova and gave a self-satisfied smirk, stating that 'her boy didn't need novels for inspiration when his mind could put the series to shame'.

* * *

Later that morning…

After making sure that all the plumbing was, indeed, working, Zabuza stepped out of the shower. He was slightly disappointed that they still hadn't done anything, as the Sorceress was a great tease. He shrugged his shoulders a bit as he put on a fishnet shirt followed by his Jounin vest. He supposed they had only known each other for the past two weeks, and he did say he wanted to take it slow…

Maybe if his team got nominated for the Chuunin exams, and he got promoted, he'd get laid as a present. His mind started coming up with multiple dastardly (and perverted) fantasies of what he could possibly pull off with a can of whipped cream and...

Shoving those thoughts aside for later, he slipped on a pair of boxers, followed by his shinobi pants. He slipped on the arm and leg warmers, keeping them as a memento of the time he spent with the Swordsmen of the Mist.

He stepped into the bedroom, catching Naruto just coming out of the second bathroom, wet and with a towel around his waist that ended just above his knees. This was actually the first time that Zabuza had seen him without the usual black hakama pants on (that time he was ambushed by a nude Naruto in the shower didn't count. He wasn't looking, too busy trying to win the tongue-war to notice), and realized that part of the reason that the boy was so silent was because he didn't wear sandals. He _couldn't_. Not with those claw-nails on his toes…

His eyes trailed up the smooth legs, idly wondering just how many tattoos the boy had, and how far they covered him. He didn't realize he had spoken out loud until Naruto answered his question with a smirk.

"They go all the way up to halfway up my thigh. Ultimecia-kaasan said that they'll change color from gray to colors representing my powers when I go through the final Sorceress Transformation. Hers are mostly purple with some green, blue, and light blue sewn in. Mine will be mostly another color, with purple, green, blue, and light blue sewn in. My facial tattoos will also change to the primary color representing my power."

Zabuza grinned a little, wondering if perhaps, the tattoos were sensitive… He got a perverted blush and had to stifle a giggle as that thought process meandered quite a bit. He snapped back to reality when the clothing molded out of the Sorceress' skin, quite disappointed he didn't get to see any more skin. His lips formed into quite an uncharacteristic pout at the fact, causing Naruto to snicker a bit and give him a kiss.

"Perhaps after I get promoted to Chuunin, Zabuza-kun?"

This, of course, brought the two into the newest in a series of tongue-battles. This time, Naruto was the victor, but the war wasn't over yet!

* * *

A week and a half later…

Haku had been working at the hospital part time, learning a bit more about medic justu. He and Zabuza had been training Sakura with Naruto for the past ten days, putting her through a watered down version of the Training Bootcamp of Doom. The poor Genin had to be physically carried home for the first two days before she strengthened up to limp her way home unaided.

Sakura was learning at quite a fast rate. She had instinctively learned part of Tsunade's strength technique, to release a burst of controlled chakra on impact, and was creating a taijutsu style with the help of the other three.

She had learned a few water jutsu, mainly **Mizu Bunshin (Water Clone)**, **Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist Technique)**,and** Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Element: Water Encampment Wall)**. She carried a water bottle around with her to supply her water techniques, as she hadn't become proficient enough in her Water Manipulation to pull it out of the air. Yet.

She was shaping up to be quite the kunoichi, and had demonstrated a bit of interest in the medical field. She, however, said that she only wanted to be a combat medic, able to heal well enough on a battlefield, yet was still a fighter. She had been getting along better with Naruto, and actually seemed to be uninterested in Sasuke, due to a rather explosive outburst from him. Apparently she would always be weak, and would never surpass him, a great Uchiha. That was the last straw, and she relinquished her hold on Inner Sakura, allowing her split personality to take over and pummel the boy so badly he was in a coma for three days. She sent him a "Get Well" card, with some writing in it saying 'I suppose this weak girl just put the Great Uchiha in the hospital' on it.

Now the boy was pointedly ignoring her, despite the fact that she wasn't being his fangirl anymore, and really couldn't care less. His sights were set on Haku who he was certain was a girl, and had asked him if he wanted to have the honors of being impregnated by the 'great Uchiha'. This, of course, caused him to be sent to the hospital for a smashed testicle, multiple severe senbon wounds, and some frostbite. He was, conveniently, under the care of Haku who took _great _pleasure in 'accidentally' missing the vein eight times out of ten whenever he had to use a needle, traumatizing the Genin into a morbid fear of needles (which he blamed on Itachi).

Kakashi had also nominated them for the Chuunin exams, which would be held in two and a half weeks. The time had been pushed back due to 'unforeseen circumstances' (read: the Hokage lost the paper he was supposed to sign to officially start the exam in the stacks of paperwork).

* * *

Three days later, October tenth…

It was Naruto's birthday, which meant he was going to go through his final Sorceress Transformation, as well as perform the ritual to make Zabuza into his official Knight.

They headed out to a secluded section of forest, the group consisting of Naruto, Zabuza, Haku, Kakashi, and the Sandaime. Kakashi wanted to come because he was curious about what the transformation did, and the Sandaime because he wanted to A) get away from paperwork and B) he wanted to be able to witness a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence such as this.

Unlike the other two transformations which Ultimecia had stimulated so that they would occur earlier than usual, and was able to do so from within, Naruto was going to do this one all by himself. The third and final transformation was the most important. It unlocks the Sorceress' unique ability, as well as providing drastic cosmetic changes. Up until now, Naruto had been looking like a sort of love-child in between Ultimecia and Jenova, with only his golden skin to set him apart from the other two's looks. If Ultimecia had stimulated this transformation, she would have irrevocably influenced its effect, and it wouldn't have let his unique ability to appear.

Speaking of the two, they had just been placed in clones made out of Naruto's cells. They wanted to be there and watching over him while he went through the Transformation. They both had their 'serious faces' on again, making Haku really believe he had dreamed of Jenova's outburst.

As they all entered a large clearing, everyone spread out around the tree line. Naruto stood in the direct center of the clearing, and started to concentrate. Feeling the power rolling off of the teen, Kakashi, Zabuza, and the Sandaime erected a barrier that would make anyone who came close immediately turn around, avoiding the path of a black cat by taking the long way around. This way, nobody would be able to feel the power coming off of the young man.

Hundreds of runes were cut into the ground by an invisible force, glowing lightly. When the entire clearing was covered with them, they all flashed a bright white as Naruto opened his eyes. They were completely golden, the light bleeding out of the iris to shine from the sclera as well, leaving him with nothing but two brightly glowing golden orbs in his eye sockets. His feet lifted off the ground, back arching a little as the wind picked up. The runes lifted up off the ground, swirling in seemingly random patterns around the suspended Sorceress. They exploded outward before collapsing on his form, becoming absorbed into him.

A deep moan of pain split the silence, as two forms bulged out of the cloth on the teen's back. Almost instinctively, the gi faded back into his skin, showing that his shoulder blades were extending. A loud cry of pain later and two wings split open his back, becoming solid. They looked to be in the style of an angel's wings, but the bones were created out of wood, the feathers and membrane created out of leaves.

Naruto's tattoos lengthened to their complete form, the ones on his face melting from a bland gray into a shade of brown-green one would associate with the earth. His hair changed color slightly, the tips of his hair changing from white-silver to the same fusion of green and brown as his facial tattoos, only a few shades lighter. The tribal tattoos edging down his chest and ending at the waist of his pants also lengthened and changed color, one becoming purple, one becoming a bright green, one becoming a deep blue, majority were ice blue. Unseen, due to his pants, the rest of his legs were the same way, but with a greater ratio of tattoos becoming a brown-green like his facial markings, with one being purple, one being a deep blue, and one becoming green. The final tattoos at his ankles became the same ice blue that was prominent on his chest.

As he floated down to the ground, his wings disappeared. He opened his eyes, and a few people gasped in shock. Instead of their normal golden hue, they had become a semblance of Jenova's. One eye was a clear green-blue, while the other was a brighter gold than before. They both seemed to glow softly, as his lips twitched upward in a slight smile. He looked around at all the shocked faces and gave a soft laugh.

"What? Didn't you know that most Sorceresses gain wings of some type?"

Zabuza walked forward and planted a deep kiss on his lips, before smirking and giving a remark.

"Tastes the same… yep. It's him."

Jenova snickered a little at that comment, before re-establishing her 'serious face'. She and Ultimecia walked over and inspected him a bit, Ultimecia paying attention to the change in tattoos, while Jenova was making sure none of his cellular structure was screwed up by the transformation. Jenova stood up first, saying that he was perfectly fine. His body was actually better than before, working a bit more efficiently. Ultimecia stood up a few moments later, a sly smile on her lips.

"I believe I know what you gained as your unique power, Naruto, and I think Aeris will be having a fit of laughter over it. Your power recognized your connection to the Planet, and must have thought you were deeply connected to the element of Earth. Congratulations on being the first ever Sorceress to have Earth Manipulation."

Naruto blinked a little in surprise, before relaying the news to Aeris. She, as suspected, broke down in a fit of soft laughter at the news, feeling oddly flattered that the Sorceress power would do that.

To make sure his kaasan was absolutely correct; he meditated slightly, touching along his magical core. A few new facets had been added to the gem, feeling strongly of damp soil and smelling of a forest after a spring rain. He brought himself back to the present, and wrapped both arms around Zabuza, giving him a rather bright grin.

"Time for your Knighting ceremony, Zabuza-kun. Then we get to go play around in the earth together while I start training my Earth Manipulation!"

At this, Jenova laughed and pulled out the scoreboard. She placed another tally for Naruto, as well as the description of the event, and shouted out the score to everybody in the clearing.

Awesome Son: 99

Hottie Knight: 98

She quickly stashed the board away, replacing her 'serious face', although now Haku was sure he wasn't dreaming it.

The Hokage and Kakashi finally broke out of their shock as they, too, inspected Naruto's new changes. He seemed to have grown an inch, and that was about it, aside from the more drastic changes.

After everyone was satisfied with inspecting him, Naruto led Zabuza back to the house to do the ceremony there. It was less… destructive than the transformation, and didn't emanate nearly as much power.

Zabuza laid in the middle of the living room, his lower half covered by a sheet. Apparently the knights had to be nude for the ceremony to work, as 'clothing is blasphemous' according to Naruto and Jenova. He thought the Sorceress just liked seeing him naked, and he didn't mind at all.

After a lengthy incantation, and a few runes flying around before slamming numbly into his head, Zabuza felt a slight pressure on his mind before it went away, but he could feel something was different. He could tell that Naruto was happy without even looking at him. He looked questioningly over at the Sorceress who gave him a warm grin and a kiss.

"The Knight and the Sorceress are bonded by the mind. I can tell what you're feeling, and you can tell what I'm feeling. It's what helps the Knight guard the Sorceress, as well as allows the Sorceress to relinquish a bit of control over their emotions. Basically, you share part of the weight of my emotions for me. Some Sorceresses take this a bit too far, however, and attack their Knight's mind to make them completely subservient." He gave a pointed glare at Ultimecia, who had the grace to look sheepish at this statement. She held up one hand, as if in court, and stated that in her defense, 'the Knight in question was an annoying blonde prick. He was constantly questioning my orders and whining about some guy he called 'puberty boy' and 'Ice Prince'. The bastard wouldn't leave me alone asking for power, so I raped his mind to make him little more than a puppet. I only took him as a Knight to keep up appearances that I was Edea. My real Knight stayed with me until Time Compression, where I Junction'd myself to him. After he died, I was able to keep my mental stability because a part of him lives on in me, stabilizing my power for me, though he no longer lives in a real sense. This, I swear, is the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth, so help me... me.'

Zabuza snickered a little at the description, wrapping Naruto up in his arms and carrying him off to the bedroom to get some much needed sleep.

* * *

The next day…

Naruto woke up feeling absolutely wonderful. He had an official Knight, he had his own unique power, and he was going to train it, damnit!

A little known fact about Naruto is that he's an avid workaholic and perfectionist when it comes to his powers. They had better be perfect, or he'll work on them until they are. After contemplating it, he decided that he was in a good enough mood to give Zabuza a present, bringing his score up to 100. He slipped in the shower while his Knight was still inside, he let his clothing meld into his body.

Zabuza was quite surprised when he heard the bathroom door open, and someone come in. He thought Haku must be borrowing Naruto's hairbrush again, as his apprentice kept 'losing' his own. Personally, he thought Haku was jealous of Naruto's hair, but he wouldn't let either of them hear that, for fear that he might be right. When the intruder slipped in behind him in the shower, he was now certain that it was _not _Haku, and if it was who he thought it was, the day was going to be one of the best _ever_. He turned around, with the bar of soap still in his hands and took in the view of Naruto, _his _Sorceress, completely nude and with a beaming grin on his face. After finding out that the teen really was hairless everywhere except the top of his head and eyebrows, his eyes wandered farther down, taking in the changes to the tattoos on his legs.

As Zabuza set the soap back down in the little soap holder thing installed in the wall, (A/N: What the hell do you call that?) Naruto wrapped both his arms around the man's broad chest. He pulled his Knight into a deep, loving kiss, making up for the height difference by standing on the balls of his feet. His fingers threaded through Zabuza's hair gently, his claw-like nails just grazing the man's scalp. He pressed both their bodies together completely, the two standing underneath the warm spray of the shower as they shared the kiss. Two certain somethings were acting up, and their minds were starting to become fogged up with the lack of oxygen combined with lust, however, so they separated, both grinning wide. They weren't going to do anything just _yet_.

After helping each other shower off, and Zabuza learning the wonders of running his fingers through Naruto's hair, they both exited the shower, grinning like lunatics. Zabuza, because he finally learned that, yes, the teen is golden _everywhere_, and Naruto because he had been wanting to do that for awhile now.

After getting dressed in their usual attire, they headed out. Naruto was off to train himself in the wonders of wielding the Earth, as Ultimecia wasn't much help there. Her words were 'I only know of two earth spells, one being **Earthquake** and the other being **Petrify**. You're on your own. Like I said, you're the first Earth Sorceress. You get to make up your own spells for this element.' He began by meditating and learning control on the essence of the Earth, finding that it was a bit different from any of his other manipulations. Earth required force to move it, so he had to put an effort into making it do what he wanted, instead of letting it reign free. If he let go of his control, Earth tended to either explode or immediately settle back to the ground. Ice, however, would shatter, evaporate, or try to become the most intricate and pretty snowflake possible, and preferred to mold itself as opposed to letting the Sorceress mold it. Earth was more malleable in that regard, as Ice was pretty vain. Earth was a rather apathetic element, with no real emotions associated with it. It was incredibly interesting for both Naruto to work with it, and Ultimecia to watch him. She was taking notes on how Earth manipulation worked, just in case.

Jenova was snoozing, dreaming lecherous dreams about all the action that might happen after the Chuunin exams, giggling perversely and drooling a bit on the couch in the mindscape.

Zabuza met with Haku and Sakura, absolutely beaming after the events of the morning shower. Haku and Sakura looked at each other, before they both asked at the same time:

"Did you get laid?"

Zabuza snickered, and said that nothing happened…_yet_. This news scared Haku and Sakura, imagining if Zabuza would start acting like Maito Gai, yelling about the power of Youth, once he got laid. These thoughts connected to one another and became muddled, becoming the question of 'What would happen if Gai got laid?' which caused the two to shudder violently, dropping to the fetal position muttering about green spandex riding up in places that are unwanted.

* * *

Later that night…

Naruto came home, completely covered in dust and with chunks of earth stuck to him in random places. Irregardless of these facts, his teeth were gleaming in accomplishment, and Zabuza could feel through his link that Naruto had stumbled upon something in his training.

The Sorceress tilted his head a little, gesturing towards the bathroom, as he really needed to clean himself up.

As they showered together, with Zabuza almost meticulously cleaning the oddly colored hair, Naruto recounted what he had learned about Earth Manipulation that day. He was actually coming along really easily with it. It was a much overlooked element, as it was always taken for granted and people were always walking all over it. The uses of such an abundant element were many, apparently, as it was actually quite receptive to manipulation. All it took was sufficient force, and the earth would bend to his will. After toweling off and slipping naked into bed together, the Sorceress was unable to repress a snicker when the ashen man asked if he could brush his hair.

"What's with the new fixation on my hair, Zabuza-kun?"

The older man huffed a little, before gently pulling the brush through the silver-white locks, tipped with the odd new fusion of brown-green.

"It's quite soothing to run my fingers through it for some reason. It's so soft, yet it never gets in your way when you're fighting or training. I think Haku would blow a blood vessel at how your hair is naturally like this. That boy takes forever to get his hair like that."

The Sorceress laughed softly, leaning back into the older man's hold as his hair was brushed. His eyes fell a bit, stifling a yawn as he murmured a reply.

"It actually feels…really good when someone else brushes it… I keep it this long to show that I'm related to both Ultimecia-kaasan and Jenova-kaasan. My original hair color was golden and spiky, so I had asked Jenova-kaasan to change it to be like hers and Ultimecia-kaasan's when she changed my cells. Now that I have better control, I can change it at will, but the color of the tips will never change. It's something that denotes my status as an Earth Sorceress. When Ultimecia-kaasan fights, the tips of her hair become a light purple to denote her as a Time/Space Sorceress."

Zabuza nodded slightly, finishing his task of brushing the teen's hair and pulling him into a comfortable embrace. He pressed up against the younger teen's back, murmuring a soft 'goodnight' in Naruto's ear as the lights went out, catching the soft reply before they both slipped into slumber.

* * *

Two weeks later…

Naruto was walking from a nearby forest through Konoha on his way back to his home, which he now called a home instead of just a living area because Zabuza was there, and any place with his Knight was home to him. Haku had declined Jenova's offer, as he'd feel like a third wheel of sorts if all three were immortal. He'd enjoy his time with them while it lasted, and Naruto swore he'd hunt down his reincarnation and spend time with that as well, and continue doing it over and over. He wouldn't let such a great friend disappear without a fight. As he passed by an alleyway, he heard a child yelp in pain and a rough voice yelling 'Oi, brat! Look where you're going!'.

Giving in to his curiosity, he saw two teenagers in the alleyway with a child no older than nine. The child in question was being held by the collar of his shirt, and was looking positively terrified of the male teenager holding him. The teen was about 5'8", wearing a black jumpsuit, with catlike ears on the hood. His face was painted Kabuki style, and he had a large bundle wrapped in bandages on his back.

The second teenager was female, about 5'10", had her blonde hair pulled back into four spiky pigtails on the back of her head. She was wearing a short sleeve, knee length, battle kimono with a bit of fishnet on her arms and knees. She had a battle fan on her back and was glaring at the one with the painted face, obviously annoyed.

Two more presences made themselves known to Naruto's magical sensing. One was a Jinchuuriki, if the mixture of human hatred, demonic chakra, and a slightly insane sub-entity were anything to tell by. He felt of sand and blood, immediately sparking the recognition that it was the Jinchuuriki of the Sabaku no Shukaku, Ichibi no Tanuki. (Jinchuuriki – Power of the Human Sacrifice, basically, sacrificing a human's life for more power. They are the containers for demons, and have to put up with the entity's existence. Sabaku no Shukaku, Ichibi no Tanuki – Shukaku of the Desert Sands, the One Tailed Raccoon-Dog)

The last presence was one that almost made Naruto groan in despair. Nobody else had the combination of angst, obsession with power, and a combination of superiority and an inferiority complex in their aura. It had to be Uchiha Sasuke, who was _radiating _smugness, probably going to try to show off his power to the foreign nins, who, by their hitai-ate, were from Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sands. Before the idiot could spark a war and get the Uchiha bloodline killed off, Naruto stepped in, speaking in a clipped tone.

"You do realize that you're holding the Hokage's grandson in a rather threatening gesture, do you not? If you are here for the Chuunin exams, then you are guests, so act like it. If you are not, and you are invading Konoha territory, then prepare to be removed."

At this information, the one with the bandaged package on his back dropped the boy, who ran off. The girl held out their passes, looking relieved that someone stopped her idiot teammate from doing something stupid. After checking the passes to make sure she was, indeed, there with her team for the exams, he spoke up again.

"Can you get your teammate to stop growling at me? Shukaku is giving me a migraine with his insanity. Please tell me they didn't seal that stupid bastard into a person?"

At this, both their eyes widened in the fact that they couldn't sense their brother, but this new guy could, and even knew of his demon before ever meeting him. The nin in question used a **Suna Shunshin (Sand Body Flicker) **to appear in front of the silver haired teen, glaring and spilling killing intent, embellished by the demonic chakra.

To his credit, he didn't falter in the least. In fact, he returned the glare, flaring his power minutely to start to freeze the air around him, and make the ground start to rumble and crack, his eyes glowing a bit brighter as the mismatched gaze locked onto the Suna nin.

As soon as he released a bit of his killing intent, the Suna nins' eyes widened in shock that not only was this stranger not backing down from their homicidal brother, but his killing intent _surpassed_ the Jinchuuriki's!

Moving faster than the surprised trio could blink, he had slammed his palm into the seal that he _knew_ was on the boy's stomach, leaking a bit of magic to fix the seal instantly. Seals were, by nature, arcane. Ninjas had modified them so that they could use their chakra to activate seals, but they would always be arcane. It's just how they worked. It's why seals had to be written down to do odd things like carrying around large objects in small scrolls.

The boy's eyes widened into saucers, looking around a bit and finding that the silver haired teen was still in the same spot he started in. But… he couldn't sense Shukaku lurking just beneath the surface, waiting to consume his mind anymore. At his questioning, eyebrow less gaze, the odd young man had the audacity to smirk.

"I fixed your seal. That should piss off the bastard a bit more. I don't know _what _that idiotic sand priest was thinking when he tried to combine himself with the Bijuu, but their minds never fully meshed, creating the insanity that you know so well. I shoved them further away from your mind, and put a small seal alongside yours that will gradually separate the two entities. It'll take a year or so to complete, but then you'll have a stupid sand priest and a probably highly confused sand manipulating tanuki sealed inside you. When that happens, ask the Hokage to see Naruto, and he'll direct you to me so that I can help you sort it out. Enjoy your sleep."

With that said, he disappeared into a ripple on the ground, the Suna team staring wide eyed in shock and awe, and Sasuke up in the tree grinding his teeth together so hard they cracked.

* * *

Naruto appeared back in his apartment-home, and found Zabuza watching TV on the couch. He slipped forward quietly and slid himself behind the larger man, both arms entwined around his waist, and his chin resting on the juncture between the ashen man's neck and shoulder. He nibbled a bit on the older man's earlobe, grinning rather slyly as the man didn't even jump in surprise at his sudden appearance anymore. It was a regular occurrence, and Zabuza rather enjoyed it. It kept him on his toes.

Tomorrow the Chuunin exams were going to start, and Naruto couldn't wait. He was sure Zabuza was quite eager for the exams to start as well, if the disturbance in the front of his pants was any indicator. Sighing rather happily, Naruto nuzzled into the man's neck, absentmindedly slipping into a meditative state and causing a wave of tranquility to wash through the mind-link towards his Knight.

While meditating, Naruto was honing his elemental control by 'drawing', as he called it. He would grab a thread of his elemental power, and slowly thin it more and more, as one would draw a heated wire through a metal plate to stretch it out. He was working on his control of his earth element, as it was catching up quickly to his Ice Mastery.

Noticing that his Sorceress was in meditation and training, Zabuza decided to screw with him a little. He pressed backwards against the smaller teen, grinding their hips together slowly and eliciting a slight mumble of content from the still-meditating Sorceress.

Oh yes. They were both looking forward to the Chuunin Exams.

* * *

Author's Note: That was actually extremely fun to write. I tried to deepen their relationship, but without rushing it. Any comments are greatly appreciated, as always.

Reviews are appreciated, and really helpful. Much of the Chuunin exams are a variable, so Sasuke could defect or not, Orochi-pedo could live or die, etc. Some things are engraved in stone, however. I won't say which, as that might spoil the surprise. The exams will take a bit to write out, so the update will probably appear on Wednesday, as I have classes on Tuesday and may be too tired to write anything.

Next chapter: Chuunin Exams and One Month Break!


	7. Chuunin Exams and One Month Break!

Author's Note: Slightly rushed, and shorter than other chapters, as I couldn't think of any way to elaborate on the Chuunin Exams without feeling like I was rambling. I suppose I could've written out Orochimaru and Sasuke fighting but... eh... it'd just be a waste of space to me. Heavy Jiraiya bashing, including physical bashing, inside.

Reviews!

**AnsemMesna**: We shall see... bwahaha.

**NaruXHinata-Rules**: Why thank you! I'm glad my story was able to hook you in, regardless of you not normally reading stuff like it. Don't worry, I have a long standing grudge against most harem fics. It's hard enough to flesh out two characters into having a believable relationship, but when all of a sudden it's Naruto dating like... five other men/women... it's quite scary. One of the only fic I've seen that could pull it off was a Naruto/Tenten/Temari fic, called "Only Human" by Deathfire-san.

**Dnic5**: Thank you. I will keep updating this as well as my newest story that started out as a plot bunny. I'll be working on them in tandem, updating both at the same time.

**Love Psycho**: True, Squall could be redeemed, but that doesn't change the fact that his angst was bordering on Sasuke's obsession. But, like you said, redeemable. I have something thought up for Akatsuki, but I'm afraid they aren't 'good'. Sorry.

**stewart92**: Thanks. I hope you enjoy it.

**moonlit dew**: Why thank you, I really tried to make it a good comedic relief. I'm sure that at some point in the Naruto world, someone could have such strong emotion that it would cause their chakra to flare and cause a physical effect, so I embellished it a little, but I thought it turned out well. Plus, Sasuke's a prick. 'nuff said.

That-one-guy-that-tried-to-flame: Woah... caps lock... it's so... capital... And I think you somehow contradicted yourself. I salute you, good sir, for proving that, once again, foolproof inventions ain't got nothin' on the true fools.

Enjoy the chapter!

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"**Spell/Jutsu"**

Disclaimer: I do not own FF7, Naruto, or FF8. Screw all you non believers!

Chuunin Exams and the One Month Break!

* * *

Near the Academy, 7:30 am…

Naruto and Sakura appeared in the familiar ripple effect through the ground near the Academy, right next to Sasuke who was waiting for them. Said Uchiha simply grunted in acknowledgement before walking inside, his two teammates following right behind him. They passed through the first floor corridors, climbing up the steps to the second floor when everything hit the fan.

Sasuke, bearer of the Uchiha genetic trait of arrogance, had to (proudly) tell the two disguised Chuunin to drop the genjutsu, and that they were going to the third floor where the exams were being held. Sakura… punched him for opening his mouth and declaring such an idiotic thing, as now the entire swarm of Chuunin hopefuls outside the Genjutsu door waiting to be let in had figured out they were tricked.

After pulling Sasuke out of a wall from the force of Sakura's punch, they both proceeded to berate him for pulling such a stunt, which he countered with his standard 'I'm an _Uchiha_', as if expecting that was the solution to all life's problems. Sadly (for him), this just caused Sakura to knee him in the balls, prompting him to have to be carried the rest of the way up the staircase.

Outside the real room 301, Kakashi was waiting for them. He explained that all three needed to be together to enter the Chuunin exams, as it was a team based exam. The Sorceress snickered a little at this, refusing to elaborate what he thought was so funny about it. As they walked inside, Naruto's 'Fangirl Danger Sense' started going haywire, and he ducked and slammed his back against the wall, making himself as little a target as possible for the impending doom.

Much to his relief, Sasuke was the target, and the blonde lamprey normally known as Ino had already sunk her teeth into him. Figuratively and literally, as she was trying to be seductive, and was nibbling on his earlobe. Finally realizing that the balance of weight on Sasuke's body was off, Ino had realized that Sakura wasn't attached to the other side, and felt that she had to know why.

The pink haired girl had simply stated that 'Sasuke's an ass', catching the mindwalker off guard at the uncharacteristic statement. As the Rookie 9 collected around them and started talking loudly, a gray haired older Genin stepped forward, introducing himself as Kabuto, and offering to show them his stack of nin-info cards. After displaying some rather detailed facts about how many people were here and from where, he asked if anyone wanted information on specific ninjas. Sasuke immediately said 'Naruto and Sabaku no Gaara', prompting the Sorceress to sigh a bit in exasperation at the Uchiha's unnatural fixation on anyone with power.

"Sabaku no Gaara, age fifteen, on a Genin team with his siblings Temari and Kankuro. 0 D-class missions, 22 C-class, and a B-class completed, and it says here he came from each one without a scratch on him!"

Quite a few of the Konoha Genins had gasped in shock, before Naruto's card was read.

"Naruto… formerly called Uzumaki Naruto… it says here he gave up his surname for unknown reasons. Teammates Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. You wanted information on your own teammate? Wow. 48 D class missions, and one C upgraded to an A class mission. Little is known about his abilities, except for his strength that could pass Tsunade's, and he almost never shows his hands. He currently lives with the former Demon of the Mist, Momochi Zabuza, and his apprentice Haku, so I suspect he's probably picked up a few things from those two."

The Sorceress held in a snicker at that last part, as he had taught Haku some, and was positive he could also teach Zabuza some things. Before much more could be said, a Sound Genin team attacked Kabuto, disorienting him and causing him to regurgitate blood from the sound wave attack, stating that 'the Sound aren't weak'. After this point, Morino Ibiki, the head of the Torture and Interrogation department walked in, yelling for everyone to take a seat and shut up.

Naruto meditated within his seat, thinking of a way he could possibly cheat without being noticed. The answer came from manipulating the tiny grains of earth in the air, and having them cover a paper, taking in the minute details of every scratch of a pen, and piecing together the answer from that.

* * *

45 minutes later…

Sakura, using her intellect, had answered every question flawlessly, while Sasuke, using his Sharingan had to copy the answers from Sakura's paper. After asking the final question, mainly a 'do or die' question of a Chuunin's leadership abilities to take a mission, regardless of the consequences should they fail, a large section of Genins had left. Sakura's arm started to rise, before she thought about all the time she had spent with Naruto in the past month or so, and realized that he probably passed the test as well, so she didn't have to worry about him failing the entire team.

Right after explaining how everyone in the room passed, a ball of cloth burst through the window, spreading outward into a banner that read 'The sexy, single, and witty Mitarashi Anko is here as Second Proctor of the Chuunin Exams!'

A medium-height kunoichi with spiky purple hair pulled up into a pineapple-style ponytail dropped down to the floor, surveying the Chuunin hopefuls with a predatory gaze. Her gaze stopped on the calm visage of Naruto, oddly wondering how he could be calm in the middle of a life or death exam. Pushing that thought aside, she recited her mini-speech, declaring that she'd cut them in half in the next exam. Jumping back out the broken window, she called over her shoulder to meet at Training Ground 44.

Naruto was already there when she arrived, meditating a bit as he waited for the rest of the Genin to arrive. Anko, being the curious Jounin she is, decided to have a little fun with him. She tossed a kunai at him, with the trajectory being just close enough to graze his cheek before using **Shunshin (Body Flicker) **to appear behind him. Unfortunately for her, as he was in meditation, his instincts were guiding his powers. The kunai was deflected in midair by a shimmering light, and when she appeared behind him, she was frozen in time. After wondering why this felt like déjà vu, and realizing that this had, indeed, happened once before in this very forest, she started to fume from her stasis.

As soon as she broke out of her temporary paralysis, she laid into him about how he shouldn't go paralyzing everyone that sneaks up on him. He asked her a rather good question:

"Why wouldn't I? They're obviously going to do _something _to me if they're sneaking up on me, so unless it's Zabuza-kun they're either going to die, or be paralyzed. Simple. And you wouldn't have been paralyzed if you hadn't tried to sneak up on me, so it's your fault. I wasn't doing it on purpose."

Anko sputtered a little, finding absolutely no hole in the teen's logic, and settled on sulking, shoulders slumped and facing away, her lips twisted into a childish pout as she waited to mess with the other Genins.

* * *

About thirty minutes later…

Anko notified that the Genins would be spending the next five days within the Forest of Death, chasing each other around and hunting the other Genins to gain a second scroll, which prompted a few people to ask the question of 'how will we eat'. Her smile could have caused babies to scream in despair, and snakes to back away, and Naruto could've sworn a Kusa kunoichi had a mixture of pride and fear in their eyes when they set sights on that smile.

"Well, there's always cannibalism… or some of the wildlife, if you're feeling like pansies."

Naruto couldn't hold in the snicker at that, wondering if Chouji might settle for eating other people should his bags of chips finally run out. Jenova and Ultimecia were looking on in slight awe as the woman scared all the poor teens, both jotting down notes on how to pull off 'seductive and psycho at the same time'.

The sirens blew, signaling the start of the Second part of the Chuunin Exams, and all the Genin sprinted inside the dark forest, planning on whom to take out to get a second scroll.

Naruto took a slight break, as he felt they were being followed by a Genin team, and went to dispatch them. Nothing lethal, he just gave them all slight concussions by pummeling them with pure Force magic, knocking them around in the air. They, unfortunately, had the same type of scroll that his team had, but he pocketed it for later. Perhaps he could trade…?

He made his way back to his team, and they continued on. Something was tugging at the edge of Naruto's mind, so he headed off again to find the reason for it. 'It' apparently was a large, fifty foot long purple snake, and so he settled to do battle with it to make the annoying sensation go away. Using his newly learned Earth manipulation for the first time in a fight, he started to launch spears of rock from the earth at the reptile, who twisted it's scaly body to avoid most of them, but quite a few grazed its flesh and caused deep gashes.

It lunged at the Sorceress, trying to bite or swallow him, its tail flailing wildly in an attempt to hit the smaller target. Unfortunately, all this accomplished was cracking the ground and causing slight tremors, as its target was a bit too quick and too agile to be caught by the tail. In a last ditch tactic, it charged head on towards its prey, hoping to smash it with a head butt. Naruto, seeing this, erected a powerful barrier in front of him, and allowed the snake to create a whole new suicide technique by crushing its own skull on the shimmering air.

Finally satisfied that the tugging sensation went away, he started to hunt around for another nearby Genin team. He encountered one from mist, that was currently terrorizing Team 8. Kiba and Shino were out cold with a few deep wounds, having been knocked out from within a thick mist, and they were now taunting Hinata they advanced on her.

"Couldn't save your teammates, could you, Hyuuga? Your precious eyes couldn't see through our powerful mist, and you'll die here today!"

As they lunged towards the horrified girl, they were halted in their tracks by an interesting phenomenon. Ice crystals, formed into thick ice javelins, had speared them through the back and had plunged into the ground. They couldn't even twist their body to find out who had killed them before they fell into eternal slumber.

Hinata was also scared, wondering who could have killed the Genin so calmly. The mist faded, revealing what could be either her savior or her executioner, and she gasped in shock; it was Naruto, looking oddly detached at the scene. The ground sunk beneath the three Mist Genin, swallowing them before spitting out a scroll with the kanji for 'Heaven' on it. Naruto caught the scroll in a sleeved hand, inspected it and pocketed it. He walked up towards Shino and Kiba, before Hinata barred his path, arms raised in the traditional Jyuuken stance as she stuttered out a sentence.

"I w-will not allow y-you to h-harm my teammates!"

The Sorceress was taken aback at this, before giving the young woman a soft smile. His reply quelled her fears as he knelt by the two, the air starting to shimmer a soft white.

"I do not wish to harm any of you. The Genin were going to kill you, so I had to use fatal force to prevent it. I am slightly worried about Kiba and Shino's health, though, so I'm healing them before I return to my team."

He muttered a soft '**Healing Wind**' as the shimmering white air engulfed the two, their wounds fading before Hinata's eyes. She was startled at how powerful the healing technique must be, and she was slightly jealous at how good he was at healing…

Naruto, as if noticing the emotions flowing through her, stood back up as the air dimmed back to normal again.

"If you're interested in healing, then go to the Hospital. I'm sure med-nins would love to have you there, Hinata-san. You did seem to be a little too gentle to be a front line fighter, but I'm sure you'd make an excellent medic if you put your mind to it. Take care of these two, as it'll be an hour or so before they awaken."

With that said, the strange teen walked off, his oddly colored hair fluttering behind him as he vanished into the darkness of the forest.

* * *

Back with Sasuke and Sakura…

Sakura was in a bit of a situation. Some creepy snake man had paralyzed both Sasuke and her with a beam of killing intent, and, when Sasuke had broken it through stabbing himself in the leg, the snake man played his weakness: Sasuke loved to rant. A simple question of 'How's Itachi doing?' was all that it took to start off the brooding teen on his rant and leaving him completely unguarded to whatever the man had done to his neck. It looked like some sort of demented hickey…

Sasuke was now unconscious in a hollow of a tree behind her, and she was defending him against three Sound Genin. It was her first combat experience since the Wave mission, and she was feeling quite nervous about her skills. What if she wasn't strong enough? What she wouldn't give for Naruto to appear in the clearing, his silky hair flowing out into the breeze, offering to defend her from…

Inner Sakura butted in at this point, completely demolishing that train of thought before it could continue. In her alternate personality's words: "You are _not _a fan girl! Don't think like one! You are a kunoichi, so act like it! Take them down, shannero!"

With the pep talk from her split personality, she charged at the enemies, chakra enhanced fists sending the three flying with cracked limbs. Before she could continue her barrage, the kunoichi had grabbed her by the hair, loudly stating how she must spend too much time looking pretty to do some real training. Sakura let out a loud, evil cackle at that remark, before doing a series of hand seals, twisting in the grip and yelling out "**Suiton: Teppodama (Water Element: Gunshot)**!"

Immediately after the final seal, several baseball sized bullets of water shot out of her mouth, impacting on the Sound kunoichi's chest and sending her flying with cracked ribs. She pulled out several kunai and flung them to the two male Genin trying to sneak up on her, before retreating to the hollow of the tree to be in a better defensive position.

* * *

Five minutes later…

Sakura was starting to run low on chakra, and the Sound Genin kept coming! All she had left were three kunai, a hairband, and a ration bar… but she wasn't MacGyver, so she couldn't do anything with that. Just as she was about to lose all hope, a malicious burst of chakra came pouring out of the hollow behind her. She quickly jumped into the tree to avoid whatever it was, and was quite startled to see that it was coming from odd flame-like marks spreading across Sasuke's face, emanating from the evil snake-hickey.

Before Sasuke could demonstrate this new power, he was knocked out from behind by a gentle jab from Naruto. The Sorceress turned to gaze at the Sound Genin, before telling them to either leave or die. They were about to leave when Zaku, the one with the air cannons implanted in his arms, loudly declared that he wasn't going to be intimidated by a girly boy.

All mercy was immediately forgotten at those fateful words. Within the next five minutes, the Sound Genin had to dodge thick spears of ice, as well as the ground exploding and crumbling beneath their feet. Zaku… wasn't so lucky. He was impaled in all eight fatal points by thick javelins of ice, making him look like a demented pincushion.

Finally, the Sorceress had calmed down a bit, and ordered the remaining two Genin that this was their last warning, to leave or die. The two nodded quickly, and disappeared with the speed of desperation.

The silver-white haired young man turned to Sasuke, and used his Earth manipulation to lift the boy onto a hovering chunk of rock, not wanting to have to carry him. He looked up at Sakura and asked his question.

"Are you ready to go? I have both the scrolls that we need. On the way to the tower, you can fill me in on what happened to Sasuke, and I'll see if I can fix it."

* * *

Four hours later, at the tower…

Naruto was deep in thought about the strange 'hickey' Sasuke had received. After subtly probing it with his magic, he realized it was a slight mind controlling agent tied to a burst of power. The more times Sasuke would use the corrupted power, the more his mind would fall to the power of Orochimaru, who Sakura had said the creepy man had called himself as he bit Sasuke.

Unfortunately, Naruto was unable to heal it, as the anchor to the seal was based within Sasuke's soul, and if he tried to use his healing magic to purge the imperfection, he would purge all of Sasuke's personality with it. The soul is kind of like a blueprint of what makes the person who they are, and as they grow older, more imperfections are added onto it. If he were to flood the boy's soul with healing magic… well… he'd be a doll. A broken down rag doll.

About the time that Sakura and Naruto had arrived at the tower entrance, Sasuke had awoken and glared immediately at the Sorceress, who let him fall to the ground with an undignified 'thud'. He flicked both his arms, the scrolls sliding out of the sleeves and unrolling onto the floor, with the kanji for a summoning ritual on each one. The two scrolls bulged, before exploding in a light mist of smoke, revealing a smiling Iruka.

The Chuunin told them that they were quite early; coming in just after the Suna team had arrived. Naruto, however, wasn't really listening. He merely waved absentmindedly to Iruka before teleporting away, to notify the Hokage that Orochimaru was probably going to influence Sasuke's actions through a cursed seal, and a completed one at that.

* * *

Four days later…

The white-silver haired Sorceress was currently hoping that the aged Hokage would hurry up and let them fight already. He was starting to get a bit twitchy from being separated from his Knight for the past five days, damnit, and something was going to explode if they ticked him off any more. Sasuke's curse seal had been sealed away, but from what Naruto could discern from the technique, the containment was based on Sasuke's willpower, and the absolute second he doubted his own power against that of the cursed seal, the containment would break.

Jenova and Ultimecia had turned it into a bet, wondering when the boy would start to use the cursed seal and run off to be Orochimaru's newest boytoy. Jenova had her claims on 'Less than a week', Ultimecia was betting 'In the finals', and Naruto had bet on 'The second he meets Itachi'.

After a long winded speech on blah blah blah Chuunin exams replace war blah blah blah, it was time to fight!

Of course, first up in the 'random' battles was Uchiha Sasuke vs Akado Yoroi, one of that gray haired Genin's teammates. Using his Sharingan to accurately predict the opponent's move, Yoroi was taken out by a barrage of fire jutsu from range so that his chakra draining attack couldn't connect.

After that, it was Hyuuga Neji vs Hyuuga Hinata. Poor Hinata, she really did try quite hard, but her vengeful cousin was going for the kill. She was carted off to the hospital after most of the jounins stepped into the arena to prevent a Jyuuken strike from hitting her heart. Naruto silently vowed to himself that, should he face Neji in the exams, the boy was going to be in for a world of pain. Lots of pain. Possibly caused by sporks.

The battles were all rather one sided and boring after that, except the match between Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura. That was quite a funny one. Ino had said that they would end their rivalry over Sasuke in the match, and Sakura had told her that she could have him, right before landing a heavy chakra-enhanced haymaker to the blonde's jaw and sending her straight into the wall.

Jenova and Ultimecia were snickering, wondering how bad it would be once she had mastered that strength technique.

Finally it was Naruto's turn in the ring, and who did he get paired up with but one Inuzuka Kiba? He was nearly grinding his teeth in irritation, and his left eyebrow had a permanent tick in it as he teleported to the arena floor. Of course, Kiba being Kiba, decided he was going to show off and try to prove that he's the best. That was the final straw, when he wrote the Sorceress off as nothing but a minor inconvenience. As Kiba started to do handsigns for his **Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four Legs Technique)**, Naruto glared heavily at him, both eyes glowing their respective gold and blue-green colors.

The ground rumbled and exploded beneath the dog nin, launching him up into the air, where he was thrown around like a rag doll from expertly aimed blunt chunks of earth. Finally, a pillar of earth rocketed skywards and smashed into the boy's back, sending him careening into the ceiling, where he slowly peeled off, unconscious, to fall towards the floor.

If the boy hadn't been a leaf nin, he might've killed him just on principal, as well as to vent his slight Knight Withdrawl.

The Chuunin examiner was quite shocked at the power display, and edged slowly away from the still irate Sorceress, who simply walked out of the arena with an irritated snort. Luckily for Naruto, Kabuto was absent from the preliminaries, and Orochimaru was too busy fantasizing about Sasuke to pay attention to what he did. When later some grunts tried to tell them about the 'silver haired kid who threw that Inuzuka around like a feather', they'd kill them for interrupting their 'play time', and never give the news a second thought.

Kakashi was raking in the winnings from his student's fight. Apparently Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai had full confidence that the dog nin would win, but they really didn't know Naruto's strength. He was graduated as the 'dobe', so they thought that, on principal, he would lose to Kiba, one of the stronger Genins.

Kakashi was fantasizing about all the Icha Icha he'd buy…

Finally after a rather painful ending to Lee and Gaara's fight, ending with Lee being thrown bodily into a wall to knock him out, but with no lasting damage, the winners of the preliminaries were required to step forward and take a slip of paper.

Naruto drew the number 1.

Neji drew the number 2.

Temari drew the number 5.

Sasuke drew the number 3.

Shino drew the number 7.

Gaara drew the number 4.

Kankurou drew the number 8.

Sakura drew the number 9, allowing her to have a free pass to the next round, while

Shikamaru drew the number 6.

They were given a month to train to defeat their adversaries, and as soon as the Hokage let them go, Naruto finally got to teleport home, and not leave the comfort of being near his Knight for the rest of the day.

* * *

A few days later…

Kakashi was being forced by the Council to train Sasuke, so that meant that Zabuza and Haku would be helping Sakura train for the finals. Not that Naruto really needed much training, and most of the training he did was by himself, but still… he shrugged that thought off and went for a stroll to the nearest secluded forest, taking him directly by the hotsprings. As he passed, he heard the distinct sound of perverted giggling, as well as… was that the scratch of a pencil on paper? He searched for the source of the sound, and nearly cried out in shock when he found who it was coming from.

His first thoughts were _'Grown men should never giggle like that. Ever. At least Zabuza-kun tries to hide it…'_

His kaasans, figuring out what the man was doing, immediately exploded into a feminine rage, wanting nothing more than to pummel the pervert that was peeking on the women's side of the hotsprings.

The man was pretty tall, about 6'4" or possibly taller, and was built quite solidly. He was wearing an odd combination of green and red, and had a large scroll strapped to his back. His hair and facial markings were his most noticeable factor, as not many men had knee length spiky white hair, or red tear trails down their face. He was staring through a hole in the side of the women's side of the bath house, writing in a small notebook. Quickly coming up with a plan, he slid silently behind the man, and screamed out a mock-female voice.

"PERVERT!"

He accompanied this with a super powered flick to the back of the man's head, sending him careening through the wall and into the hotsprings, taking his notebook with him. The Sorceress, sensing that the job was going to be finished by the highly skilled female professionals, started to walk away.

* * *

In the forest…

He had finally found a decent clearing to start his training, and was about to begin his meditation when he felt a presence in the trees. He tried hard to hold in the groan of disappointment, he really did, but was unable to stifle it in time as he realized it was the same pervert from the bathhouse, looking strangely uninjured. The man must have some sort of ninja technique that hardens his skin so that he doesn't take much damage from the mob of women…

Before his thoughts could meander on just _how _many times this middle aged pervert must have been beaten by women, the man had started his… introduction.

It consisted of summoning a large toad, and doing a strange kabuki dance atop of it, complete with mysteriously appearing confetti and stage lights. By the time the man was finished, Naruto was already across the clearing, sitting with his back turned to him, attempting to get on with his meditation. The man, obviously annoyed at someone who had completely disregarded his 'awesome' introduction, asked the teen who he thought he was.

"Naruto. My name is Naruto. Now kindly remove yourself from this forest clearing before I am forced to assist you in this endeavor. You're annoying me."

The man (Jiraiya, as he had loudly proclaimed) refused to leave him alone, so he did the only thing he could. He walked slowly up to the man, eying him up and down, before delivering a powerful kick to the man's crotch, sending him skyward.

Finally able to sit down and meditate, he relaxed.

* * *

Half an hour later…

An enraged Sannin was currently trying hard to not strangle this odd teen who was supposed to be his apprentice, according to his late student's wishes. He stomped all the way back to the forest from his recent air trip (which had, oddly enough, landed him in the women's hotspring), finally catching the brat meditating in the forest clearing.

He tried to entice the boy, asking him if he wanted to learn to summon toads, or the Yondaime's prized jutsu, the **Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)**. The boy had the audacity to glare at him and tell him to either leave or be reacquainted to the earth via another kick to the balls. Not undeterred in the least, he decided to bring out the artillery.

"Brat, you know you have two sources of chakra, right? I can teach you how to use the second. I'm a seals master, so I'll make sure the seal doesn't break."

He was positive this would hook the teen, as he was sure if he was a Jinchuuriki he'd want to learn to use the demon's power.

The boy turned to fully face him, his odd eyes glowing brightly in the gloom of the forest clearing, startling the Sannin.

'_Minato's eyes weren't gold… or blue-green… neither were Kushina's…'_

Naruto, finally fed up with the annoying pervert decided to lay it down, in no uncertain terms, to the Sannin.

"I do not want your training, you annoying pervert. If I wanted to be trained to be an addict on the fox's youki, then I would have loosened the seal on my own and started to act like Gaara. I don't even use chakra when I'm fighting, so there's nothing you can teach me. Now leave, as I will not hold back on my next attacks, and possibly dismember you. I know you're just doing this because you promised my 'father' that you would, and I really don't give a damn. Since he had no hand in raising me, I don't see why he should have a hand in my training."

Jiraiya, at this point, was quite frustrated. He finally grabbed onto the teen's shoulder, to teleport them to the Sandaime's office when the unexpected (to him) happened. The boy's eyes flashed a brighter color, and the ground beneath him erupted, sending him flying. As he was falling towards the ground, he nearly gasped in shock. Along the ground were spikes of earth, interspersed with spears of ice, all waiting for him to fall on one of them. Quickly using **Hari Jizo (Needle Guardian) **to turn his hair into a pointy shield, he broke his fall without sustaining damage. Before he could berate the boy for attacking him, he was forced to dodge a large volley of ice javelins, coupled with a few fireballs and lightning bolts. When he turned to find the boy, he realized that he wasn't even moving from his spot. He was just sitting there on the ground, eyes closed as he meditated, as all the different instruments of doom flew towards the white haired man.

Quickly getting over his shock, he left to Sarutobi's office, to have the old man order the boy to accept being his apprentice so he could fulfill the wishes of the Yondaime.

* * *

Hokage's Office…

When Sarutobi saw a disgruntled, and slightly beat up Jiraiya appearing into his office, his mind immediately screamed that he had met Naruto. He wasn't sure how his mind knew this, but after he voiced the question, it was made clear to the aged Hokage. He sat back in his chair and rubbed his temples a bit. He finally opened his eyes to see his student looking at him expectantly.

"I'm not going to order him to be your apprentice. The boy could easily beat me in a one on one match. The reason he attacked you is because he doesn't like to be known as anything other than himself. He gave up his surname, refusing to be called Uzumaki, and hardly acknowledges the Yondaime was his father. The man sired him, yes, but that's all. The only ones close to him would be Kakashi, Momochi Zabuza, and his apprentice Haku. I cannot do anything but warn you to not try to force the boy into anything. He is capable of much more destruction than what you experienced today, as he probably wasn't even paying attention to you."

Jiraiya's jaw dropped, that not only could the brat outfight the Sandaime, but also because he knew of his parentage, and really didn't care. He also wondered why an ex Mist nuke-nin would be close to the boy, and vowed to find out. As if sensing his thoughts, the Sandaime spoke up again.

"Don't bother trying to find Zabuza or Haku. Only Naruto can lift the wards on his apartment, where all three are staying. Some ANBU tried to get in to assassinate him once and he was turned to stone. I think Naruto said something about a life size lawn ornament."

Jiraiya stared in wide eyed shock that the boy actually knew a sealing technique that he didn't himself know. Now he not only had to pass the Toad contract on to the reluctant boy, but he had to find out about that technique…

"What about Akatsuki? You know they're going after all the Jinchuuriki."

The Hokage looked at him oddly, as if asking if he was completely stupid, before breaking out into soft laughter.

"You'll have to ask the boy on that one. I don't think he's too worried. He never gets a challenge anyway."

The perverted Sannin stared at the Hokage, mentally wondering if the man had already gone senile. A fifteen year old taking on S-class nuke-nin? Not even he could do that without pushing himself to the limit! He left the office, trying to find the elusive teen so he could ask him a few questions.

* * *

Near Naruto's house…

The Sorceress' ears perked as he caught onto the presence of someone following him. Again. This pervert was really trying to die, wasn't he? He whirled around and launched a thick ice spear towards where he knew the Sannin was hiding, almost growling in irritation.

"Will you quit stalking me? I thought you were straight, and if you're not, not only are you too old for me, but I'm taken."

The Sannin was too surprised that he had noticed him to answer. Not even Tsunade could sense him when he was sneaking! It must have been a fluke.

The white-silver haired boy continued walking on his way, before sighing in irritation as the pervert was _still _following him.

"Do you have a death wish? Or are you really that stupid? I'm well under my rights as a Konoha Shinobi to kill you for intruding upon my property unannounced, meaning I could take it as an assassination attempt and neutralize you right where you stand. At least it'd save me the headache of listening to you ramble about yourself."

Jiraiya looked like either he was about to laugh at the notion that a Genin could kill him, or pissed that the brat dare mouth off to him. As his face tried to pull off both expressions at once, he looked… oddly constipated. Naruto whirled around again, starting to walk off silently and calling over his shoulder.

"If you continue to follow me, I'll be forced to remove you from my sight."

Jiraiya, not believing a word he said, started to follow him home again and replied.

"You're not getting rid of me until I pass on Minato's techniques to you. How could you not want to learn his techniques? He was the Yondaime, one of the most powerful Shinobi of all time! You should be begging me for this knowledge!"

Naruto spun on his toes, turning to face the, obviously, suicidal Sannin with a glare that would make Ibiki mutter about how he needed to learn how to do that. His voice was as cold as ice as he tried to spell it out for Jiraiya.

"I am the single most powerful entity on the entire _planet_. I don't care about what my sire did, as he was his own person, as I am my own. This is your final warning before I will attempt to use lethal force to break it into your skull that I. Do. Not. Want. To. Be. Your. Apprentice."

They were only about a block away from Naruto's apartment by now, and he wanted nothing more than to take a long, hot bath and try to forget about this man's existence. He should've stayed home to train… but there was no forest there… damn.

Jiraiya snorted in disbelief. This kid, the most powerful on the planet? Bah. He must be bluffing. After only taking two steps, though, he heard a chilling voice from behind him.

"I warned you, and now you must face the consequences of your actions."

Before he could turn to yell at the brat for threatening him, he was victim to the single most painful blunt force trauma in the history of man. Naruto had summoned his staff, and swung with all his strength up in between the pervert's legs, utterly demolishing the Sannin's defense against such attacks and landing a solid hit to his pelvis. The Sorceress definitely heard the bone shatter with that one, and held a hand over his eyes to cut out the glare from the sun as he watched the pervert fly high over Konoha. Jenova and Ultimecia both pulled out protractors and calculators, judging that the man would land in the middle of the Yondaime's forehead on the Hokage Monument.

Finally satisfied that the man would leave him the fuck alone, he continued walking to his apartment.

* * *

Three and a half weeks later…

Naruto was absolutely beaming. Tomorrow the finals would begin, and all he had to do was prove that he was Chuunin material to the judges which wouldn't be that hard. The pervert had been in the Intensive Care Unit for the past few weeks from the last hit he landed on the man, and hopefully he'd stay that way.

After recounting the story to Zabuza, the older man had laughed heartily over the Sannin's demise and pulled the teen into a victory kiss. Haku snickered a little, while Inner Haku was yelling about how Naruto should've done more to the pervert than just a 'love tap'. The Sandaime had sent a Get Well card to Jiraiya, which, if the man was conscious, would have said 'I told you so' right on the inside of it.

Over the past few weeks many kunoichi had stopped him in the middle of the street, regardless of his reputation in Konoha, and actually thanked him for doing them all a wonderful favor. He felt quite awkward when this happened, as he had no idea what to do in a situation where he was thanked by people that normally hated him. He just did what he usually did: nod and smile.

The Kunoichi Club of Konoha had sent him a large gift basket filled with massage oils and bath beads for his 'wondrous service to women everywhere'. Zabuza had taken one look at the contents of the basket before stealing it, claiming they'd keep it and use it later, which caused both Jenova and even Ultimecia to let out distinct perverse giggles, much to Naruto's chagrin.

Naruto was walking through the Forest of Death, idly wondering if there was any good place to meditate in there without Anko finding him. He looked out through the tree line to see a bunch of Sound nin and Sand nin inscribing a giant seal in a clearing. Both Jenova and Ultimecia studied it for a bit, before looking at each other in his mind, and stating one word.

"Invasion."

The Sorceress questioned them a bit on it, and they replied that 'the seal is used for summoning very large creatures. There would be no reason for that at a friendly Chuunin exam, so it has to be an invasion. Plus, if you listen, they're muttering something about Konoha's demise.'

Naruto, sensing that they were telling the complete truth, teleported away to warn the Hokage.

* * *

Hokage's Office…

Sarutobi was actually having a good day for once. All the paperwork was finished, as there was no paperwork on Chuunin Exam Day, leaving him to read his Icha Icha and drink sake in his office. Before he could pull out the orange covered book, Konoha's Resident Sorceress faded in through the floor in his office. He absentmindedly thought to himself that he'd never get used to the teen's odd transportation techniques, before asking him why he was there.

He recounted the seal he had seen, setting the Sandaime on edge. Orochimaru was in the exam, supposedly to lure Sasuke for power… so he might be the one instigating the invasion to make Konoha look weak, forcing Sasuke to search for other avenues of power. After relaying this thought to the white-silver haired teen, Naruto agreed with the thought, as it would show that, not only was Orochimaru powerful, but it would also prove that Konoha would be too weak to teach Sasuke. That, coupled with the curse seal, would be sure to have him defect.

Unfortunately, Sarutobi's solution for the problem was one that Naruto really didn't like. He was to heal Jiraiya, and alert him to the problem, and let him handle it, since Naruto wouldn't be able to help with the invasion before it started due to being a participant in the exams. Finally agreeing, if only the Sandaime would get the pervert to stay away from him, on penalty of the white haired man losing what makes him a man, he set off towards the hospital.

* * *

Hospital…

Naruto arrived into the ICU ward through a slight ripple in the wall, startling one of the nurses. She recognized him as the man who put Jiraiya in the ICU in the first place, though, so she allowed it. What he asked her, however, had her reconsidering, though the boy really did look remorseful.

"I really don't want to say this, but can you point me towards the perverted Sannin's bed? I need to heal him so he can help the Hokage with something important. He said something about Sannin duties…"

She politely pointed him towards a man with a half-body cast on his lower body, who had apparently been in a coma for the past three weeks from both the physical and mental trauma of having his groin slammed with more power than Tsunade's punches. He reassured the nurse that 'should he annoy me in any way, shape, or form, or try something perverted, I'll send him right back to your care', causing the nurse to give off a sadistic giggle, mumbling something about mixing up his painkillers with Viagra to taunt the aged pervert, should he ever be in her care again.

Naruto headed over to the bed, looking slightly repulsed at the fact that he was going to have to heal this annoying man. Finally, he bit his tongue, and started to concentrate, a green mist emanating from him. He placed both hands on the man's chest, almost snickering at Jenova's outburst of "MAN BOOBS" inside his mind, concentrating as hard as possible so that he didn't screw up the technique. The green mist solidified slightly into a green aura glowing from him, two tendrils of bright green skipping down each of his arms. As they reached the Sannin's chest, they dove into his body, causing him to glow slightly as well. The nurse was rather shocked at the odd healing technique the boy was using, as the green… whatever it was… looked to be toxic.

The boy opened his eyes, startling the nurse as both of them were glowing a bright green. A soft murmur escaped his lips, making the nurse wonder if perhaps the boy had invented the technique himself.

"**Pulse of Life**"

The man immediately shot up in bed, coming back to the land of consciousness as the teen staggered back a bit, looking a bit pale and winded. The effects of the technique didn't go unnoticed by the woman, who made a note to research it, as its effects were quite profound. The man's wounds had regenerated nearly instantly, leaving no scarring whatsoever. It was as if he hadn't been injured at all!

Jiraiya sat up in bed, looking around in a daze. His gaze finally landed on the long haired teen that had struck him, and he tried to lunge out of the… hospital bed? Why was he in the hospital? Seeing the confused look on the Sannin's face, the teen explained before disappearing in a strange teleportation technique that had him sink into a wall, leaving only a slight ripple behind.

"I put you in the hospital when I struck you, but the Sandaime had me heal you since he needed you for something important. Know this; should you ever stalk me again, you'll be sent here. Permanently."

Noticing that he was in the ICU section of the hospital, Jiraiya was actually starting to believe the boy might really be that powerful, as not even Tsunade had managed to put him here with one punch. After asking the woman what the date was, he nearly fainted in shock.

"I'VE BEEN HERE FOR THREE WEEKS IN A COMA?!"

The nurse nodded and glared, writing something down on her clipboard before leaving the room.

"You would've been in here for a few more months if the boy hadn't healed you. He's currently the single most respected individual among women in Konoha for doing that to you, although healing all your wounds might damage that a bit. He did seem like he really didn't want to, though, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Your clothing is at the foot of your bed, and the boy said the Sandaime needed to see you immediately."

* * *

Naruto's house…

The Sorceress was currently sulking. He really didn't want to heal that damn pervert, but the Sandaime had ordered him to. Zabuza thought it was rather cute when he came in with a literal storm cloud over his head, his bottom lip stuck out in a pout, grumbling something about 'killing that annoying Sannin. He's worse than Orochimaru…'

Zabuza pulled the teen into a tight hug, ending his uncharacteristic brooding on the different ways to kill Jiraiya. The teen relaxed into the hug, blowing a lock of hair away from his eyes as he looked up at Zabuza.

"Chuunin exam finals are tomorrow, and the Sand and Sound are invading Konoha. I'll probably have to reveal my abilities to defend this place. What do you think about that?"

The ashen man was quite shocked, and asked how the Sorceress knew the Sand and Sound were invading. His response was a vague 'they're out near the Forest of Death etching a summoning circle in the ground large enough to summon a boss. They were also muttering about how "Konoha would fall" or something.'

The ex Mist ANBU thought about it a little, before giving his Sorceress a quick kiss on the lips and giving his reply.

"If they try to do anything once you show your true self, then we can just leave. You only have a few friends in this village, as most still think you're a Jinchuuriki. Though I can't help but feel that something terrible might happen tomorrow. I want you to promise me that, if we get separated during the fighting, that you'll take care of yourself and not hold back your power for fear of being found out. It could get you killed…well…kinda… but I don't want to have to wait for the Planet to spit you back out."

The Sorceress gave a slight smile, returning the kiss with one of his own.

"I promise, but I want you to also promise that you'll take care of yourself and Haku. If I do have to show my true abilities, I'll probably be up in the sky and out of range of most weaponry. You two, however, aren't able to do that, and Haku is still mortal. I'm also worried about the Sandaime, though. If Orochimaru is invading, he'll probably try to kill his teacher just to prove that he could. It seems like he's doing this for two reasons. One, because he hates Konoha, and two, because it's a show of power to get Sasuke to defect so that Orochimaru can obtain the Sharingan."

The older man nodded a little, both arms wrapped securely around the white-silver haired young man's waist.

"Fine. But to make it more interesting, the one who gets the least kills is forced to wash the dishes."

Naruto looked over at the kitchen, to see Haku struggling with a pile of used dishes to rival that of a Kage's stack of paperwork. He paled, turning to look at Zabuza who had an evil glint in his eye. He immediately matched the glint with a devilish smirk, grinning wide at his Knight.

"You don't stand a chance against me, Zabuza-kun. Not after all the training I've done…"

The ex Mist nuke-nin grinned, showing off all his pointy teeth.

"Fine fine... I'll do the dishes. I know you'll probably break your restriction to save the village anyway, and not even a Kage could match your destructive Forbidden Magic. However, will you help me do the dishes? Otherwise… I may get stuck doing them for a week, and I swear they multiply faster than paperwork."

The Sorceress tapped his chin with a clawed finger, before nodding decisively.

"Alright… but if they keep multiplying as we clean them, I'm breaking out the spells to destroy them so that we can just buy clean dishes. I am not going to waste away my life cleaning dishes when I could just vaporize them and buy newer ones."

They both snickered a little at this, and broke out laughing as Haku was buried under an avalanche of the evil plates.

Later that night, as they both went to sleep, they both wrapped their arms a little tighter around one another, silently hoping that neither would be harmed in the upcoming invasion.

* * *

Author's Note: Woo. Done. Not much else to say about this chapter. I'm not crazy about how I wrote it out, as I feel like I skipped around a lot. But when I went back to possibly elaborate, I felt like I was making some sort of long winded speech about something completely irrelevant. So... sorry if it's a bit short. The next chapter will be back at the standard 10k-ish word length.

Reviews are love, although the annoying ones proclaiming yaoi is the scourge of the universe should probably read the story before they reply. It's not all bad... just... a large majority of it... kinda like harem fics or a large majority of NaruHina fics that have Hinata finally confess her love to him, and he _suddenly _realizes that he doesn't love Sakura, as Hinata was always there for him. Cue the mush.

Next Chapter: Invasion


	8. Invasion

Author's Note: Woo. New chapter! After giving it some heavy thought for a day, I realized that I probably wouldn't be able to continue writing this story for much longer. Sorry to all you people who love the story so much, but I think it'd just start to run on and on... and on... and on... if I kept it going, so I thought of a decent (to me) ending to it. Let me know what you think.

To the reviewers!

**Love Psycho**: You'll have to read to find out!

**NaruXHinata-Rules**: You get your wish here.

**piers3333**: Why thank you. This story will probably end in two or three chapters, though, so updates... eh. I don't think I could continue updating it, as he's already at the peak of his power, and I'd be going against my policy if I focused completely on the romance part, but I can't focus on the adventure/action part because it's like... too easy for him... but I'll make it end in a bang, damnit!

**moonlit dew**: Thank you! I always sort of envisioned Jiraiya as being annoyingly stubborn when it came to something he actually wanted to do, and he's shown with Tsunade that he's got excellent pain tolerance so... he shall be bludgeoned most fiercely!

**Unyu**: Eh, I kind of wanted him to be one of those little "IN YOUR FACE, KONOHA!" type of things when they realized that they threw away true gold, and merely believed all his power was the fox's. His stay in Konoha is mainly just for comfort of atmosphere, although I do get what you're saying. I suppose if you want powerful, yet rogue, Naruto you could go to my other story that I'm working on in tandem with this one... Also, yes, Nii Yugito would be a damn good Knight, as well. I could see this story as being het, actually... though the nails... not sure what would happen with those, as you don't think 'Sorceress' with 'straight guy'. It seems like he'd end up getting some personality quirk like Ed from FMA, where he over exaggerates any minor comment on his sexuality or something if he was straight. Although... that would make for good humor. Thank you for the review!

Enjoy the chapter!

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"**Spell/Jutsu"**

Diclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Final Fantasy 8, Final Fantasy 7, or their respective characters. I do, however, own the idea of giving Naruto an Earth element. Take that, bitches! Bwahaha!

* * *

Invasion

Nobles of all varieties, as well as high class citizens of their respective countries, were all crammed into the stadium to watch the Chuunin Exam Finals. Up in the Kage box, the Sandaime Hokage as well as the Yondaime Kazekage were seated, each with their respective guards. The Sandaime was flanked by a rather ordinary looking Jounin, while the Kazekage was backed by two rather imposing Jounin. The Chuunin Exams may be called 'neutral', but it wasn't unheard of for hostile actions to be taken during them. It happened quite often, anything from instructing the Genin to kill a specific country's Genin to full out assassination attempts on the high ranked nobles.

The Sandaime was feeling antsy. Something felt familiar about the Kazekage… but also quite different. The man actually complimented his Jinchuuriki son! The Kazekage _loathed _his son, since he wasn't able to fully control him due to all his assassins dying in the attempt! Wait a moment… the strangely lusting gaze... the obsession with power… did he just see a snake-like tongue?

No… it couldn't be… but what's this? A Kabuto plush doll dressed in bondage situated in the man's lap?!

It must be Orochimaru impersonating the Kazekage!

Sarutobi stiffened imperceptibly, moving his hands down to his sides, and using his right hand to make discreet signals to the Jounin behind him. Due to their positioning, neither the 'Kazekage' nor his escort could see the Sandaime's hand, and were kept in the dark of the message sent. The Jounin stiffened slightly before relaxing. He now knew where exactly Orochimaru would be striking from.

The Hokage stood up and walked forward, enhancing his voice with a jutsu so that it resonated all around the wide stadium, rehearsing his speech. Finally with a roar of applause, he sat back down to watch the matches.

* * *

Down at the Stadium Floor…

Neji was currently waiting around for his opponent to appear and face him. The proctor, Shiranui Genma the senbon-sucking jounin, was tapping his foot impatiently as well. They didn't have to wait long, however, as the floor about twenty feet in front of the Hyuuga started to ripple like water. Two figures arose from the unstable-looking ground, shocking everyone in attendance. The first to be recognized was Momochi Zabuza, ex-Kiri-nin and labeled Demon of the Mist. He was dressed in a black muscle shirt, covered by a Jounin vest. His zanbato, Kubukiri Houcho (Head Chopping Cleaver) was strapped to his back. His pants were standard shinobi black, and had matching black shinobi sandals. Like always, his arm and leg warmers were present.

The second figure, though, almost nobody could recognize who they were until the hair caught their eye, sparking the familiarity. They were tall, about four inches shorter than Zabuza, with a lithe figure. Their skin had a golden tone to it, and their muscles looked sinewy and flexible. However, all resemblance to the 'public' Naruto before ended here. His clothing was much more combat oriented, as he had ditched the long, wide sleeved gi for a long sleeved fishnet shirt, covered by a regular, black, short sleeved shirt. The short length of the shirt showed off the strange tattoos along his arms, but most people weren't looking at that. They were looking at his hands, and Kabuto's card came to mind.

'_He almost never shows his hands.'_

He had long, elegant fingers, with sharply clawed fingernails. The presence of the nails scared many of the older shinobi, who were positive it had something to do with the Kyuubi. As they continued to inspect Naruto, they realized something else. He wasn't wearing his hakama pants anymore. He had exchanged them for slightly baggy black shinobi pants with multiple pockets, being taped near his ankle. Their eyes caught sight of the strange tattoos on his ankles that seemed to go back up into the pants, as well as the clawed toenails, shocking even more people.

Naruto stood there; face completely passive before he further surprised the audience. He floated up on thin air, and gave Zabuza a kiss on the lips, before telling him he was going to 'win that bet, and the dishes will be vanquished'.

The white-silver haired teen turned to face Neji, who had barely prevented his mouth from falling open at the boy's strange appearance, and asked him a question.

"Are you going to stare at me all day, or are we going to fight? If this is about my appearance, then you will be quite shocked later when I reveal my 'true form'."

This caused most of the Konoha audience to stiffen in fear, wondering if he was, perhaps, alluding to the Kyuubi?

Neji quickly regained his arrogant, impassive face, before attempting to taunt the teen.

"Your fate was sealed the moment you were chosen as my opponent. I shall be the winner."

With that said, he shifted into the traditional Jyuuken stance, while Naruto simply stood there, hands still at his sides. The teen gave the Hyuuga a bow, before mocking him.

"Please forgive me for the pain you will suffer by my hands today, Hyuuga, but I will not forgive those who raise a harming hand towards their own family. You will be lucky if I leave you capable of walking after today."

Neji's pale lips twisted in a sneer, veins bulging around his temples as he activated the Byakugan.

"Fate has decreed that I will emerge victorious this day. You cannot deny fate."

Naruto heaved a heavy sigh and turned to face the proctor.

"May we begin the match? His concepts of Fate and Destiny are boring me."

At Genma's nod, as well as his jumping back to avoid any crossfire, both Genin jumped back about ten feet, to gauge their opponent. Before Neji could enquire on why there were no chakra coils in his opponent's body, Naruto had attacked first. He raised one hand in the air, clawed fingertips pointing towards the sky and spoke a single sentence.

"**Ice Strike**."

Six long, thick icicles coalesced from thin air, shimmering a soft blue, before his hand dropped back to his side, the javelins flying at an incredible speed towards the stunned Hyuuga. Nobody was supposed to be able to use ice jutsu without a bloodline!

Quickly realizing he wouldn't be able to dodge, he surged chakra through each of his 361 tenketsu, spinning in place to create a dome of pure chakra.

"**Kaiten (Heavenly Whirl)!**"

The ice javelins shattered upon contact with the viciously swirling winds, causing Neji to smirk at the ineffective attack. Naruto just tapped a single index finger against his chin, before speaking.

"You spin chakra around your body at a high velocity in one direction to cause all attacks to be either destroyed or deflected by the barrier, right? What you don't protect against, though, is the ground below you. **Quake**."

The Sorceress tapped the ground with a single finger, causing the earth underneath Neji to explode violently, sending the surprised Genin up into the air. Before he could contemplate on his opponent's ability to use jutsu without any chakra whatsoever, though, the Sorceress was right up in the air with him, looking quite bored. Naruto's voice carried all across the stadium from their point thirty feet straight in the air, scaring most of the audience.

"You have harmed your family member, and you will now feel her pain."

The tall teen's hands moved in a blur, tapping Neji's joints in deceptively gentle looking strikes, yet causing the boy to cry out in intense pain. After nearly destroying his elbows and knees, as well as his ankles and wrists, Naruto twirled his body to create more momentum, and delivered a vicious axe kick to the Hyuuga's stomach, sending him hurtling towards the earth.

The entire stadium shook from the force of the impact, and Orochimaru disguised as the Kazekage was nearly salivating at the 'Kyuubi Jinchuuriki's' power, wondering if he could place a cursed seal on him as well.

Neji was unable to move, deep within the crater caused by the impact. Most of his body was broken, and he would have to forfeit. But fate was supposed to allow him to win, damnit! He wouldn't forfeit to that… _commoner_! Before his thoughts could go into an angst rant against fate, the likes of which could only be seen on one Uchiha Sasuke when he starts to think about Itachi, the ground beneath him started to rise.

Naruto manipulated the earth to bring his opponent's near-unconscious body back to the surface, and let loose an evil, sadistic smirk. He loomed over the teen, and the proctor considered jumping in to prevent the killing blow, before Naruto released one of the most… soothing laughs heard by man?

"Neji… you're not quite done yet. However, I'll resume your anti-Fate treatment later…"

He leaned in close to the Hyuuga's ear, who was almost whimpering in pain, but Hyuuga's were too noble to whimper, so he held it in. Naruto's whisper caused shock to overtake the pain, though.

"You need to be in fighting condition when the Sound invades, so I'll be around to teach you the ways of defying Fate later. For now… **Healing Wind**."

The air shimmered a soft white; a gentle breeze caressing the angsty teen's pale skin. His injuries visibly healed, leaving absolutely no pain, nor any sign of injury. He blinked in surprise, looking up wide eyed at the mismatched pair of eyes above him. What the boy said next wasn't a proclamation of victory, nor gloating, as Neji would've thought. What he said instead stunned him into silence.

"Be grateful that you actually have a family that cares for you, Neji. Hinata is not as weak as you claim. She instead cares too much for her family to harm them, causing her to hold back. Something that she had told me once was that her dream was to abolish the same seal that is on your forehead, as no person should feel the burden of servitude. Keep this in mind; she could have, at any point in time, activated the seal to cause you to lose in the preliminaries, but she refused to."

With that said, Naruto walked gracefully towards the proctor, and gave him a respectful nod.

"I have shown that, not only can I circumnavigate the Hyuuga's 'perfect defense', but I also have shown mercy towards my enemy, as he is a comrade. I have furthermore proven that I am capable in hand to hand combat, as well as long range techniques, and have shown analytical skills to assess the weakness of the **Kaiten **at first glance. With all these Chuunin prerequisites filled, I forfeit to Hyuuga Neji, due to not wanting to harm him anymore. He is fully healed, but will be quite weak on his feet for the next few minutes, so I could at any point in time end this match of my own volition."

With that said, he sunk into the ground to reappear in the contestant box, where most of the Genin were staring at him in shock and a little bit of fear. He tilted his head slightly, blinking in confusion.

"What?"

Sakura walked forward first, as she wasn't too surprised by Naruto's appearance. She had, of course, seen and felt his hands when he helped her with taijutsu, but the toes and odd tattoos were new.

"I think they're all shocked by your appearance. Plus the fact that you did jutsu without hand seals, as you usually stick to hand to hand combat."

The teen blinked a little, before letting out a soft laugh.

"That's all? It's part of my bloodline. However, most people get the wrong idea when they see clawed fingernails and toenails, so I kept the clothing covering them at all times. It's bad enough that I'm regarded as a demon by name alone, I didn't need to give them further reason to believe it. However, I feel that there will be something coming today that I need to not be holding back to stop."

With that foreboding message said, he rested his chin on his crossed arms, leaning over the railing to watch the rest of the matches. The Genin broke out of their shock, as they, too, watched the rest.

Sasuke's match was delayed, due to the fact that it would cause a riot to see the 'precious Uchiha' disqualified. Shino's opponent, Kankuro, forfeited. Temari floated down to the stadium floor on her fan, and Shikamaru (after Naruto threatened to leave him in Ino's care for a week with no escape) walked down the stairwell to fight her.

* * *

After about an hour and a half of analytical thinking, using his jacket as a parachute to cast another shadow on the ground, and hopping from tree to tree to avoid the Suna-nin's wind techniques, Shikamaru finally caught her in a surprise attack.

He had created a standard clone with its hands in the seal for his **Kagemane**, before running around behind Temari, and using a real **Kagemane** to catch her as she jumped back from the clone's illusion. He finally forfeited due to having not enough chakra to do anything else, which caused the wind mistress to fume at the lazy shadow manipulator. Naruto, however, congratulated Shikamaru, stating that 'sometimes the hardest thing is to know when to give up'.

Finally, Sasuke, looking quite smug, showed up with Kakashi, who looked oddly… agitated. They appeared in a dramatic **Konoha Shunshin (Leaf Body Flicker)**, a whirlwind of leaves surrounding both of them as they appeared on the stadium floor. Kakashi used the standard **Shunshin **to appear behind Naruto in the contestant stands and heaved a resigned sigh. Naruto cocked one silver eyebrow at him, before his lips twitched into a slight smirk.

"He forced you to make a dramatic late entrance, on penalty of losing Icha Icha, didn't he?"

The Jounin nodded, sulking, as he walked with his student, and brightened at seeing the teen wearing less covering clothing.

"Finally decided to show off your odd physical features?"

Naruto stifled a snicker, before making sure they were in a deserted hallway. He leaned in to his teacher, whispering lightly.

"The Sand and Sound are going to invade, likely trying to use Gaara as heavy artillery. I have a feeling I'll have to use everything in my arsenal to protect this village, so… I decided to give them a little taste first before I give them all heart attacks."

The perverted Jounin chuckled a little at that, nodding a bit in agreement. He was a bit shocked, however, that the Sand and Sound were going to invade. When he questioned why, Naruto simply shrugged and stated 'Orochimaru'. They both went back to the contestant area, to watch as Sasuke charged a ball of sand with a palmful of lightning. He gave a glare at Kakashi, who looked ashamed and mumbled 'council ordered it'. Naruto nodded a little, and patted the man reassuringly on his shoulder, as a piercing scream echoed out into the stadium.

"BLOOD! IT'S **MY **BLOOD!"

Naruto whirled around at feeling the demonic chakra spike, looking slightly worried. The seal pushed the consciousness of both the sand priest and the tanuki further away from Gaara's, but if he was under extreme duress and calling on the demon's chakra, he'd get swarmed with murderous thoughts again. He cursed underneath his breath as he saw Gaara cradling his head and mumbling.

"Fucking… damnit. Now Gaara's going to go Shukaku on Sasuke because he's too pissed to fight off the demon for control."

Jenova and Ultimecia were having a blast, betting on how long before the annoying duck ass brat got squished to a smear of blood on sand. Before they could get into the serious betting (read: placing Icha Icha novels on the bets), white feathers started to fall from the sky. Naruto suddenly felt sleepy, before blinking it off. Stupid Genjutsu. Most of the stadium was asleep by now, with only the Jounins or experienced Chuunin fighting it off. An explosion from the Kage box caused all hell to break loose, as the two 'Jounin' that were with the Kazekage split into four different individuals, all holding up a barrier. The 'Jounin' with the Hokage became Jiraiya, and the two squared off against the rogue Sannin.

Naruto rolled his eyes as he saw Sasuke chase after Gaara and his siblings, who had escaped into the forest. He supposed he should go after them to make sure the seal still held… He looked towards Zabuza who was currently having the time of his life killing off Sand and Sound nins, gleefully calling out numbers. He teleported to his Knight's side, and glared, pouting.

"I have to go make sure the damn seal is holding tightly or else we'll have a one tailed demon on the loose. You have five minutes of a head start before I come back and blow your record out of the water."

He disappeared in another ripple along the ground, causing Zabuza to chuckle, before yelling out a battle cry that all of Konoha heard, though only three could figure out what the hell he was talking about.

"**FOR THE DISHES!**"

* * *

This was met with a responding warcry, coming from a dark brown haired, gentle eyed ice user, who was working in the hospital tending the wounded. The nurses all stared at his uncharacteristic outburst, as the boy had flared an intense killing intent as he called it out. Noticing everyone's stare, he giggled sheepishly and scratched the side of his cheek, answering their unsaid question.

"The dishes back at home multiply faster than the Hokage's paperwork."

All the nurses went wide eyed with shock and sympathy, nodding to him before busying themselves. Something that could multiply faster than paperwork? Truly a crisis waiting to happen.

* * *

Meanwhile…

Naruto had caught up with Gaara, who had the right side of his body covered in sand, emulating a human sized tanuki. He even had a sand tail! And Sasuke… was currently using his cursed seal, causing Jenova and Naruto to grumble at Ultimecia, stating that 'it's not fair, it's not during the finals, therefore nobody wins'. Sasuke was smacked away and held against a tree by a large sand claw, slowly crushing him. Naruto debated just leaving him there, but that would mean that Gaara's seal would weaken more, and he supposed the Uchiha could die another day.

He stepped forward, entering Gaara's line of sight.

"Either control your emotions and get your power back under control, or I will do it for you."

The Genin, too lost in his fury, snarled and exploded into a shower of sand, taking the form of a one hundred foot tall tanuki. Naruto sighed, lifting his hand up in the direction of the sand raccoon's stomach. He concentrated, channeling his Earth magic through the air, and allowed it to grasp onto the red haired Jinchuuriki inside the avatar of the Ichibi. He ripped the boy forcefully from the sand construct, lowering him down to eye level with the Sorceress. Raising a hand, he quickly surged more Mana through the seal, shutting the youki down and returning Gaara back to himself.

After leaving him in the care of his brother and sister, as well as leaving a few parting words of 'try using your power to protect those close to you, and you may find it harder to lose control', Naruto started to meditate in the clearing. Sasuke, forgotten and unconscious against a tree, was the sole witness to what happened next.

Naruto started to float up into the sky, as two angel wings crafted of tree branches and leaves broke out of his back. The oddly colored tips to his hair started to glow slightly as he took to the skies, wings flapping every so often so that the boy could conserve his Mana without using it to float.

* * *

Back in Konoha…

Zabuza was currently up to 136, when a voice completely destroyed his concentration, causing him to pout as he realized who it was.

"**Forbidden Magic: Ultima**"

A bright green light exploded into a heavy green mist over a large sector of the city, before the mist combusted in a keening roar, utterly annihilating the Sand and Sound nins swarming through there. Thankfully, all Konoha civilians were evacuated to the hidden tunnels under the Hokage Monument, so Naruto was free to use as many destructive magics as he wanted to.

The Sorceress in question floated down next to Zabuza, surprising some of the Konoha nins nearby.

"I got 287 in that one, Zabuza-kun. How are you doing?"

The Demon of the Mist continued to pout, grumbling a '136', and stifling a grin when the teen gave him a kiss.

"Don't worry, my Knight. Together, we will vanquish the dishes. **FOR THE DISHES!**"

With that warcry, the Sorceress took to the skies once again, flinging powerful magic down upon the invaders. His eyes were glowing bright in the noontime sky, strangely calming to the Konoha nins who looked upon him, though terrifying to his enemies.

Before long, however, a large three-headed snake burst through the village's walls, intent on laying waste to the city. Jiraiya was currently locked in combat with Orochimaru, so he was unable to summon toads in defense. Fearing all hope was lost, Konoha nins started to scatter away from the snake's warpath. They all looked up in shock as a figure loomed in the sky. They were unable to make out many of the details, aside from the fact that it looked like it had angel wings made out of tree branches and leaves, and had long hair. The voice called down to them, causing many to jaw drop as they realized it was the 'demon', come to save them.

"**Forbidden Magic: Terra Break!**"

A glowing white orb appeared in front of the figure, growing bigger and brighter for a moment before it exploded into a dozen different orbs of light, all arcing towards the three headed snake. Each bright white orb left a shimmering trail through the air as they swarmed towards their target, impacting in a loud explosion and destroying the menace.

* * *

Back at the stadium…

Many ANBU and Jounin were currently stationed outside the wall surrounding the Kage box. Some poor soul had tried to break it down, but they burst into intense flames upon coming in contact with the barrier, so all they could do is wait. A figure flew up behind them, before landing beside the barrier. Many had to do a double take, as it appeared that the 'demon' had… angel wings made out of wood and leaves? Weird.

Naruto, watching the Sandaime and Jiraiya get beat back by the younger body of Orochimaru, was starting to get antsy. He didn't want to break the barrier, as the backlash from the energy might kill the other Konoha nins surrounding it. He also didn't want to try to teleport through it, as it might have adverse side effects. His mind had finally come to a conclusion when he was broken out of his concentration by a pained gasp.

Orochimaru had finally succeeded in hitting the Sandaime with his Kusanagi no Tsurugi (Grass-cutter sword, also Sword of the Snake), the blade's poison would quickly kill the man, if the wound through his chest caused by the sword did not. Jiraiya was fending off the resurrected corpses of both the Shodaime and the Nidaime, as Orochimaru had pulled off a jutsu to reincarnate their souls, but place them under his full control.

Naruto, at seeing the old man take a fatal wound, nearly lost it. He had finally started to like the old man again, and damnit he promised to make Jiraiya stop stalking him! If he died, who would get the annoying perv to quit following him?! The Sannin was incredibly resilient, and it wasn't much fun to beat him up.

The Sorceress' power leaked out in heavy waves, causing the Konoha nins nearby to drop to their knees, gasping for air. The glowing light in his eyes bled out, completely enveloping his sockets in glowing blue-green and golden light. The light continued to spread until, from the nose to the forehead, there was simply a gap of bright light, with the gold and blue-green colors fighting for dominance where they touched. Orochimaru looked towards the power source, feeling slightly afraid of whatever was generating so much raw power. His eyes set on the Genin from the exams, and his jaw nearly dropped. The Genin had that much power to surpass his own?!

The teen's voice broke the silence, uttering a chilling sentence in an emotionless monotone.

"Orochimaru. I will never forgive you. **Forbidden Magic: Glacial Forest!**"

The water vapor in the air inside the barrier sparkled for a moment, before thick spears of ice broke through the roof of the Kage box, aiming to impale the Snake Sannin. Jiraiya jumped out of the way, as the spears started to branch off, and create more spears at a rapid pace, quickly filling most of the box with a literal forest of deadly ice trees, and tearing apart the bodies of the Shodaime and Nidaime.

A single word broke the tense silence, as Orochimaru had seemed to escape the deadly technique, lodged in a rather uncomfortable position between multiple branches, barely evading the pointed ends.

"Shatter."

All the trees simultaneously exploded into a hail of ice shards, and the ones closest to Orochimaru caused the most damage. Hundreds of thousands of razor sharp pieces of ice embedded into his body, causing him to scream in pain. Unfortunately, the explosion wasn't powerful enough to cause them to go deep into him, but it did cause extreme pain. His arms were completely mangled by the flaying power of the ice.

The four Sound nin saw their leader fall, and quickly jumped to help him, disappearing in a group **Shunshin**, carrying the still breathing Snake Sannin with them. The barrier dispersed, Naruto flew to Sandaime's side, who was barely breathing. The Sorceress had two twin tears trailing down his cheeks, as he gathered his healing magic in an attempt to heal the old man's wounds. He set both clawed hands on the man's stomach, sending pulses of the curing energy through him, with a spoken "**Breath of the Earth**". Unfortunately, the poison from the Kusanagi was fighting against his magic, and he wasn't sure if he would be able to completely eradicate it as well as heal the aged man.

He looked up at Sarutobi's face, and saw that the man was already dead. He knelt down to the man and gave him a warm smile, as well as a murmured "Goodbye.".

He spoke to the amassed crowd, sorrow evident in his voice.

"I wasn't able to heal both the poison in his system, as well as the life threatening wound. I'm afraid he's… dead…"

With that said, he took off to the skies again, the twin tears frozen on his face as he continued to defend his home against the remaining invaders. Many Konoha shinobi who saw this would later recount to their friends about seeing "Konoha's Tenshi (angel)" in battle.

* * *

An hour later…

Naruto was currently standing in the middle of a bloodstained street. That was the last of the Sand and Sound invaders, and he was quite weary with the events of the day. He was about to head out to find Zabuza when a kunai whistled through the air, stopping just short of the back of his head and was deflected by a barrier. The Sorceress turned around to find the entire army of Ne (Root) ANBU, with Danzo at the head of them.

"Naruto-kun, you will be coming with us to work for Ne. After your display of power, I believe you would make a great asset."

At this, Naruto's temper flared to life, unable to believe that after all the events of that day, the first thing on the warhawk's mind was to get _more _power?! As if sensing his anger, Danzo let out a self satisfied smirk.

"After fighting off most of the invasion, you're too weak to escape, and I have the entirety of my Ne force here to subdue you by force if necessary."

Zabuza, who had gone looking for the Sorceress, felt the anger flare and came to investigate, to find Naruto floating about a foot off the ground, nearly glowing with power as he glared at the amassed shinobi come to take him away. The Sorceress spoke with a haunting tone, before calling out the one spell that caused Zabuza to swear loudly.

"You believe that you have the power to force me to submit to your will? You think that you can just control me, and use me for your petty whims? Do you truly believe that I, after taking out most of two invading army's forces, wouldn't have enough power to destroy you and your lapdogs? Your arrogance sickens me, Danzo. **Ultimate Forbidden Magic: Wrath of the Cosmos**."

It all started with a twinkling light in the sky, causing all the shinobi to look up. Naruto took this chance to immobilize all of them by using his Earth manipulation to trap their feet in the ground.

The twinkling light grew slowly, before it looked like a miniature sun coming closer. After a few moments, a few shinobi started to realize what was happening, and panicked, trying to run, but finding their feet were sunk into the earth, and no amount of chakra could free them. The bright light split into hundreds of smaller lights, before the world turned to black for the amassed Ne ANBU as well as Danzo.

* * *

Jiraiya and Zabuza looked on in pure awe as hundreds of small comets pelted the area where Danzo and his army were occupying, causing the earth to shake violently and crack under the impacts. The Toad Sannin finally realized that, yes, this brat could kill him. Easily. The shaking of the earth finally stopped, allowing the amassed Jounin, ANBU, Zabuza, and Jiraiya to see the effect.

A deep crater was all that was left of Danzo and his forces, slightly smoking from the heat caused from all the friction, as well as multiple comets breaking through the atmosphere. Naruto stood there, and his wings faded away, as he turned to face the crowd. The twin tears finally dropped off his face, and landed on the ground, before he started to slowly walk forward. Most of them backed away in fear, as if thinking he was going to kill everyone, believing that perhaps the Kyuubi had broken free. Naruto didn't really care at the moment. He kept walking slowly forward, his mismatched eyes showing a deep emotional weariness, as he wrapped both arms around Zabuza's chest, and collapsed, asleep.

Zabuza held onto the teen, bridal style, as he turned to walk back to their apartment. Everyone cleared a path for him, though Jiraiya did follow them. Zabuza let him, though; as he was too worried about his Sorceress to really care.

* * *

Two days later, noon…

Naruto finally awoke from his slumber, to find himself in the protective arms of Zabuza. He sighed a bit, resting in the comforting embrace, as he tried to remember what happened. He twisted in the older man's hold and hugged him tightly as he remembered killing Danzo and his Ne force after they tried to control him.

Zabuza gave a soft chuckle, causing the Sorceress to look up at him in slight bewilderment.

"You've been asleep for two days. I think you over extended your power, fighting like that."

The teen gave a slight nod, before giving a groan of despair.

"You let the pervert into the apartment. How could you?"

Zabuza snickered a little at that.

"Because I was too worried about you to care that he was still stalking you. You collapsed after causing _meteors _to decimate an entire shinobi force. What do you think I was going to do?"

Naruto mumbled something about 'killing perverts who don't know when to leave well enough alone' before slipping out of Zabuza's hold, his clothing from the finals melding out of his skin and onto his body. He sniffed at the air a bit, before commenting, causing both his kaasans to snicker a little.

"You need a shower. Badly. You never left my bedside while I was out, did you?"

The ex-Kiri-nin scratched the back of his head sheepishly, before nodding a bit.

"Well, what can I say? That was the first time I had ever seen you at full power, so when you collapsed I was worried. C'mon, let's go deal with the Sannin so we can shower."

The Sorceress slumped forward, sulking childishly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Damnit. I was just going to blast him out of the apartment… I really don't want to talk with him. When's Sandaime-ojiisan's funeral happening?"

Zabuza gave a slight smile at the suffix, glad that the boy finally forgave the old man. His actions were echoed by Jenova and Ultimecia, who broke out a large box of tissues and started weeping at the sentimental moment.

A new voice came from the hallway, causing Naruto to glare heatedly at the doorway.

"In three days, brat, and immediately after that both you and me are going searching for the Godaime Hokage. I have some questions for you, though."

The Sorceress gave a low groan of despair, mumbling something about 'why can't I just kill him…?' before he walked out behind the Sannin, sighing heavily.

"What do you want?"

Jiraiya huffed a bit, before slipping into a completely serious stance.

"How in the hell were you able to fight like that; was it the Kyuubi? Is the seal breaking?"

Naruto backhanded the man forcefully across the face, nearly shattering his jaw. He only held back because the man still needed to talk, though the blow was still incredibly painful.

"For the last fucking time, I do not use the power of the nine tailed fox. The fox is dead. **Dead**. Do you get it now? I haven't been a Jinchuuriki ever since a few hours after my birth because the fox **died**. There is no seal. The only people who know exactly how I fight are Haku, Zabuza, the Sandaime, and Kakashi, and until you prove to me that I could trust you, you're not learning that. Do you need anything else?"

Jiraiya rubbed his jaw from the hit, glaring suspiciously at the long haired teen. He refrained from aggravating him further, though, as he seemed to have a short temper this time around.

"Just two more things. Can I see the seal to make sure it's gone, and why do you look like that?"

This time Naruto really did break the Sannin's jaw, shattering it to pieces, before yanking his shirt up revealing a, toned, golden stomach with a few intricate tattoos spanning across it. None were in the shape of the **Shiki Fuuin (Dead Demon Consuming Seal)**, though, so it proved what he was saying was right.

"I look like this because I refuse to look related to the Yondaime. The man may have given me half my genetic code, but I can manipulate my cellular structure however the hell I want to, so I took this form instead. I do not want to be related in any way, shape, or form with the man. While I do honor the fact that he gave his life for his village, he shouldn't have left a curse on an innocent at the same time. Leave now, or I will do more to you than break your jaw. I'll see you at four days at the west gate, and if you ever come upon my property without permission again, I will crush your arms and legs beyond even my healing capacity, and leave you next to the Konoha Kunoichi Association so that they can enact revenge on you."

The Sannin left after this, nearly whimpering in terror of the final threat. Naruto heaved a frustrated sigh, running his fingers through his hair before turning to see Zabuza, looking a little shocked in the doorway to the bedroom.

"I'm just tired and grumpy because Sandaime's dead, and now he can't make good on his deal to keep the perv away from me, damnit."

Zabuza smirked at that, before pulling the Sorceress into the shower with him.

Unbeknownst to anyone in Konoha, as Orochimaru escaped with his Sound Four, they came across the unconscious body in the forest. After the Snake Sannin finished pouting at how he wouldn't get to 'enjoy Sasuke-kun's body just yet', they picked him up, bound him, and carried him with them. The Council were too busy being afraid of Naruto's power to worry over their 'precious Uchiha heir'.

* * *

Four days later…

Jiraiya arrived at the west gate to meet Naruto, slightly surprised to see Zabuza there as well. When questioned, he simply stated that he would go wherever Naruto went, which prompted Naruto to give the older man a kiss on the lips. Jiraiya mentally sobbed at how the teen he was supposed to be teaching, according to the teen's father's wishes, was gay, meaning he wouldn't be able to join Jiraiya on his perverted peeking trips.

They set out to search for Tsunade, causing both Zabuza and, surprisingly, Naruto, to pull out copies of Icha Icha Yaoi Paradise, asking him if it was the same Tsunade who wrote the series. Jiraiya had broken down sobbing, stating (in between wails of despair) that after he announced to his female teammate he was going to write a pornographic series and make it big, she had taken offense. She then had beaten him at his own game, writing the rival series of Icha Icha Yaoi Paradise, and matching her white-haired teammate book for book, but, unlike him, she used her imagination instead of peeking. This, coupled with the book's surprisingly tasteful background story, made Icha Icha Yaoi Paradise highly popular with many women (and a few men) all over the Elemental Countries, surpassing Jiraiya's book.

Both Zabuza and Naruto had gone starry-eyed at learning that they were going to retrieve _THE _Tsunade, and broke down into perverse giggling. Inside his mind, Jenova was doing a victory dance, and Ultimecia was wearing a cheerleader outfit, thrusting her fists into the air and screaming "YEAH!".

To Jiraiya, this trip was going to be long and stressful.

* * *

Two days later…

Jiraiya was nearing the end of his rope with his traveling companions. He couldn't go 'researching', because Naruto seemed to have an anti-Jiraiya sensor in his mind (read: Jenova and Ultimecia would loudly declare the pervert was trying to escape to continue peeking on unsuspecting women) and he'd be dragged back by his hair. He also couldn't write any of his books, because he had no material to work with! Every time he pulled out his notebook, it was incinerated in a plume of white flames. He still wasn't sure which one of them did that, but he was thinking it was Zabuza… his 'innocent' face still looked too guilty.

Finally he had gotten serious at doing his assigned task, and had actively searched for clues on Tsunade instead of heading to a brothel. He found out that she was in the exact city they had arrived in, Tanzaku Gai, and had headed back to the hotel to tell both of his companions that. They both looked at him, then looking at each other, before they both squealed in a great imitation of fanpeople, grabbing him by his arms and physically hauling him around the city to find her.

* * *

After eight hours of being dragged along the rocks on the ground, they finally found her in a bar. Jiraiya barely managed to mumble out a 'Tsunade… big breasts… blonde…' before he was dragged along the floor of the bar by the two, and shoved forcefully into a seat across from Tsunade and her apprentice, Shizune, who was currently holding a pet pig with a large beaded necklace named Tonton.

Tsunade looked rather shocked at her teammate's beat up appearance, and looked at the two newcomers with a blonde eyebrow cocked in question. Jiraiya took this moment to speak up so that she might recognize one of them, and had pointed to Naruto and said 'he's the container'.

The reaction to this, of course, was rather humorous to the Slug Sannin. The white-silver haired teen had materialized a rather exquisite looking staff out of thin air and belted her perverted teammate across the chest with a hard 'WHACK', and if her hearing didn't lie, he broke all of Jiraiya's ribs, as well as sending him through the open window and careening into a stone wall. The staff faded back into thin air as the teen gave a heavy sigh.

"I really need to kill him. Seriously. I keep thinking that he'll learn his lesson, but he's hell-bent on stalking me."

Tsunade gave a slight snicker to this, before she remembered the boy's name, and recognized the other man across from her.

"You're Uzumaki Naruto, right? And you're… Momochi Zabuza?"

Naruto chuckled a little at this, and gave a look filled with mischief to Zabuza.

"I really think I should change my name legally to Momochi Naruto. It sounds better than just 'Naruto'. What do you think, Zabuza-kun?"

Said kiri-nin… fainted… a happy smile on his un-masked face. Tsunade looked quite alarmed at the news, and Shizune looked a bit confused. Tonton just let out a soft 'buwee', and Jiraiya… was out cold in a crater impacted into the wall.

"Momochi Naruto?"

The Sorceress smiled a bit at this, causing Tsunade to wonder why the boy looked so odd. If she remembered correctly… when she delivered him, he had spiky yellow hair… and if he was a Jinchuuriki, he'd have whisker marks… and his eyes were blue. Noticing the woman analyzing his appearance, he held out an elegant, clawed hand in a hand-shaking gesture.

"My appearance is due to a bloodline, or so I tell most people. Perhaps I could tell you the truth, if you come back to Konoha to become Hokage? Sarutobi, unfortunately, died fighting Orochi-pedo with the white haired stalker over there. I was outside the barrier, fighting off most of the Sand-Sound forces."

Shizune gave a slight snort of laughter at Orochimaru's nickname, and Tsunade's lips twitched into a slight smile. She shook the teen's hand gently, marveling at the odd tattoos that seemed to cover most of his body. She thought about the offer for a bit, before flashbacks of Dan and Nawaki came back to her, and she shook her head a bit.

"I can't go back there. I won't. Not after what happened. The stupid Council refused my idea to have a med-nin on every team to drastically reduce casualty rates, and my fiancé and brother suffered for it."

The white-silver haired teen gave her an oddly sympathetic glance. He seemed to stare out into nothingness for a moment, before a sad smile reached across his face. He stood up from the table, and gathered Zabuza in his arms, prompting Tsunade to wonder how a thin boy could carry a heavy man, sword and all, quite easily. He gave her a slight smile, and tilted his head towards the door.

"If you come with me, I think I might be able to help with that. If not, then I will take Jiraiya and Zabuza and leave back to Konoha, and never bother you again."

Tsunade thought it over for a moment, before nodding. She looked through the open window at Jiraiya who was still knocked out cold. She shrugged her shoulders and followed the odd teen outside.

* * *

Nearby forest, in a clearing…

Tsunade had followed the enigmatic young man all the way out to a forest, wondering why he would want to come out here to a secluded area. He finally set Zabuza down against the trunk of a tree and stood in the middle of the clearing. He turned towards her, and she could swear his eyes glowed green for a moment.

"If you see something odd happening around me, don't worry."

She wondered on his choice of words, slightly surprised as he knelt down in a praying position. He seemed to go deep into meditation, and flowers started to bloom all around him. This shocked Tsunade, as it looked like a form of **Mokuton (Wood Element)**, a bloodline from her grandfather. She, unfortunately, didn't inherit the trait. The air started to shimmer a light green around the boy, and she gasped in shock as two figures solidified out of the green glow, looking identical to Dan and Nawaki, though strangely transparent.

Shizune sat by Zabuza's body, who started to stir and simply gazed on at the scene, a slight hint of sadness in his gray eyes.

Tsunade and her late fiancé as well as her younger brother talked in hushed tones for a few minutes, before they both bid her farewell and disappeared. Naruto let out a choking gasp before waking up from his meditation, panting lightly. His statement shocked the Slug Sannin, as well as her apprentice.

"That's the first time I tried to materialize the souls of the dead…"

Tsunade regarded him analytically for a moment, before using a diagnostic jutsu to make sure he was alright. She wouldn't have believed him if she hadn't spoken to her dead loved ones, but those were the true things. The boy really could materialize the souls of the dead! What she found when doing her diagnostic technique shocked her.

"You're being poisoned by… what the hell is that? And what the hell is up with your cells?"

The teen nodded a little, standing up and stretching before falling forward into Zabuza's arms. He explained from his vantage point situated like a rag doll.

"I had to channel the Lifestream of the Planet, basically the souls of the dead. Doing so exposes me to a highly concentrated form of your healing chakra, and it poisons my system. I'd normally be fine, but about six days ago I had to use it to heal Jiraiya to have him guard the Sandaime against Orochimaru, so I'm going to be unable to move for the rest of the day. Can I crash in your hotel room?"

The Slug Sannin nodded a bit, feeling slightly numb with the entire situation, and led them to the hotel herself. She prepared them a futon on the ground, and sat on her bed to think about what her two loved ones had told her.

Before the teen fell asleep, she had to ask.

"Naruto, what's an Ancient?"

Her answer was a mumbled 'tell you in the morning…mako poisoning… need sleep…'

* * *

The next morning…

Jiraiya had somehow found their hotel room, and was banging on their door to be let in. Naruto was the one who got up and answered, looking bleary eyed at the irate Toad Sannin.

"What do you want, Jiraiya?"

The white haired man huffed, before clutching his chest in pain at the action caused; his ribs weren't healed yet.

"We were supposed to be getting Tsunade to come back to Konoha as Hokage. What happened after you knocked me out?"

The Sorceress scratched a cheek slightly, thinking about it…

"Oh. I think I convinced her… I kinda forgot about our 'mission' thing. Hey Tsunade-hime (princess), are you gonna be Hokage?"

The sleepy Slug Sannin awoke, rubbing at her eyes, before regarding her teammate at the doorway.

"Nnn… too early for this…get me coffee…"

Naruto looked back at Jiraiya, before nodding decisively and flicking his forehead, sending him through a wall with a call of 'get the woman her coffee, pervert!'

Tsunade woke up completely at the crash that sounded like Jiraya being sent through a wall, and snickered when she heard what Naruto had said. She thought about the day before, and weighed the job of Hokage in her mind. The teen interrupted her musings by sitting across from her, with Zabuza's head in his lap, running his clawed nails through the man's short hair.

"You wanted to ask me what an Ancient was before, right?"

The woman nodded, instantly pulling out a notebook to write this down. According to Dan and Nawaki, this boy was the last Ancient on the planet…

"Ancients are… well… it's kind of hard to explain. Basically, we are caretakers of the Planet. We speak with the Planet, defend it from harm, and heal it should it be in pain. All of the Ancients who have died live within the Lifestream, the blood of the planet, and guide the souls to reincarnation. The ones that are on the planet's surface are the ones who physically defend it. I'm the last Ancient alive, and will be the last one for an eternity, as due to a quirk about my body, I can't be absorbed into the Lifestream, so I can't die."

The woman was quite shocked at this, writing it all down for future reference. She finally nodded to herself, and gave her answer to the boy.

"Well… Dan and Nawaki did ask me to take the job, and to use the power to prevent others from dying… so I guess I accept. We'll head back as soon as Jiraiya gets me some coffee."

As if on cue, a knocking sounded at the door. When Naruto opened it, it wasn't Jiraiya, but two men wearing black cloaks decorated with a red cloud design. He regarded them warily, before nodding.

"Akatsuki right? Sorry. I'm not a Jinchuuriki. You can go now."

Kisame and Itachi nearly fell over at the news, before regaining their composure and trying again. Tsunade was also shocked, and was slowly moving into a defensive stance if forced to fight the two S-class nins.

"You're Uzumaki Naruto, right? Weren't you the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki?"

The odd teen nodded a little, before replying.

"Yes, though I gave up my surname awhile back. However, Kyuubi has been dead since a few hours after the sealing, due to odd circumstances. Nobody noticed, though, so I was always treated as a Jinchuuriki."

Itachi looked at Kisame, and they both let out a low groan. Itachi then said something that totally broke is emotionless façade, showing genuine fear.

"We're fucked."

Naruto cocked a silver eyebrow at this, asking 'why'. Kisame was the one who responded.

"We needed the Kyuubi for our plans. Leader started the final operation when he sent us to get you, and they're reviving some sort of ancient weapon to control the world. He said he needed the power of the Kyuubi to control it, though."

Naruto's jaw dropped, as something in that statement had really and truly frightened him. He had to clarify it.

"An ancient weapon, or the Ancient's WEAPON?"

Itachi blinked a little in surprise, before taking out a sheet of paper and handing it to Naruto. After reading it over, the Sorceress groaned in frustration.

"Your leader is a total fucking idiot. Nobody can control WEAPON. Not even the Ancients could control it."

Tsunade had finally broken out of her shock, and sat back down on her bed, wondering what they were discussing. Soon enough, though, Naruto had both of them come inside so they could discuss this. Shizune was still asleep, as was Zabuza.

Itachi was the one who broke the silence.

"What do you mean, Naruto-kun?"

The long haired teen rubbed his temples with a sigh of frustration, cursing everything from 'damn leader of Akatsuki for being a retarded powerwhore' to 'damn Jiraiya for taking too long with the coffee' before answering.

"Your idiotic Leader is going to try to doom the entire world. He must have either misheard legends, or misinterpreted stories about it. WEAPON was a biomechanical creature created by the Planet itself as a safeguard against danger. Should anything threaten the Planet's existence, it would awaken and destroy all life, allowing the Planet to start the entire cycle of life over again, and hope that the danger never reoccurred. Thousands of years ago, WEAPON was destroyed by a group of people. It had been awakened by a large meteor heading on a collision course for the planet, and the only way to stop the meteor was by having the one surviving Ancient pray for Holy. She died, though, and WEAPON was destroyed, however, her soul guided Holy from the Planet's core, and destroyed the meteor."

Zabuza started stirring at this point, and Naruto wrapped both arms around him, holding him tightly so he didn't immediately attack Kisame. Said shark-like man was still shocked at the information from the person they were supposed to capture. Tsunade had her notebook out and was writing this all down. Zabuza fully awakened by now, and glared heatedly at Kisame, but noticing that Naruto was mouthing a silent 'not now', he calmed down and was released from the Sorceress' tight grip.

Itachi was staring out into space, his Sharingan eyes deactivated. He rubbed his temples a bit, groaning at the headache coming on. Tsunade looked over at Naruto and asked him an obvious question.

"You said the last surviving Ancient had prayed for Holy to defend the planet. Can't you do the same?"

Itachi and Kisame's heads whirled around to face Naruto, who was groaning in discontent. He nodded slightly, answering her question.

"I am an Ancient, by gift, but not by blood. I could, theoretically, pray for Holy to destroy WEAPON as it is a direct threat to the planet itself. It'd take about two or three days for it to happen, and during that time my body would be defenseless… I think I know where to pray for it at, though…"

Kisame and Itachi looked up, startled at this fact, and turned to each other. After thinking about it for a few moments, they stood up, took off their cloaks, and discarded them. As one, they both knelt in front of Naruto, and spoke, shocking him.

"We would like to help defend you while you pray. It's the least we can do."

Naruto blinked a little, before asking them to explain. From what he had heard, both Kisame and Itachi were cold blooded killers, destroying anything that got into their way. He really had to stifle a loud laugh, though, when he heard their responses. Itachi spoke first.

"I never killed my clan. I was considered a prodigy to them, and gained legions upon legions of fangirls. One day, they had overheard Shisui declaring that he was better than me, and I later found his corpse, mangled by the raging women, and the grief over my best friend's death unlocked my Mangekyo. I quickly hurried to my clan compound, where I saw it in flames. Apparently the president of my fanclub had heard that the Uchiha Clan hadn't thought I was that great, and were going to train my brother to be better than me. So, the girl had gathered her fangirl army and attacked the Uchiha clan. There was only one survivor, that of Sasuke. I used my Mangekyo to trap his mind in the **Tsukiyomi (Moonreader/Goddess of the Moon) **world to turn him into an angsty bastard, hoping that would save him from the horror that was the fangirls, before escaping to make it look like I really had killed the clan. Akatsuki offered me the one thing that the Uchiha clan could not. They offered me… sanctuary from the fangirls."

The great Uchiha Itachi, 'clanslayer', was afraid of fangirls. Naruto truly sympathized with this man, though, as he, too, was afraid of the scourge of all life known as fanpeople. They were ruthless, vicious, and could be used as a weapon of mass destruction. All you had to do to get them to destroy an entire village was to say that the village had somehow disgraced their object of affection. Give them a few days to stew on that, and a raging mob of fangirls would descend with a vengeance, killing all who stood in the way of 'true love'.

Kisame's answer was a bit more serious.

"While I did kill the Water Daimyo, I didn't tell the Mizukage the plans about his assassination."

At Zabuza's disbelieving stare, he elaborated.

"That weird one, Raiga. I think he wanted to just kill everyone."

Zabuza's eyes widened in shock, and he blinked a little before thinking about it.

"Wasn't Raiga the crazy, lightning loving guy who had an unnatural fixation on giving everyone around him funerals?"

Kisame nodded, shivering a bit.

"He also kept asking if he could make sushi out of me. He's dead, right?"

At Zabuza's nod, he gave a sigh of relief.

Jiraiya finally returned with the coffee, and fresh slap marks on his face. He saw the two nuke-nin in the hotel room and was about to say something when Tsunade took the coffee from him, yelled a 'thanks', and punched him through the wall again.

Naruto looked around at everyone in the room, before shrugging.

"So…back to Konoha, then?"

* * *

Author's Note: Done. I'm thinking two more chapters and an Epilogue, and then the story will be complete.

Reviews safeguard Itachi from his fangirls, and keep sushi knives away from Kisame.

Next Chapter: WEAPON's Revival


	9. WEAPON's Revival

Author's Note: Damnit, it's short again. Well... it's a lot of fighting, I'll say that much. The next chapter will probably be short as well, and will be mostly fighting. If you can guess which WEAPON is the right one, you get a chocolate chip cookie. You can't base it on power or size, though, as I made it huge and highly powerful to sit correctly with the story.

Reviews!

**Rei Tamashii**: Thanks! I always hear ones that say "Sandaime ordered it because the entire Uchiha clan was evil and had to be wiped out, with the only non conspirator being Sasuke". It's a good backstory, don't get me wrong, but it's used so often that it loses the unique-ness, so I tried my own little spin on it.

**Love Psycho**: Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to have them all be used, though I suppose they all could be slightly non evil... the Leader totally is a god-complexing bastard, though, I'll give you that. However, the members did follow his orders, so they cannot be spared. I'm sorry. I do agree that Sasori and Deidara are awesome, though!

**piers3333**: While I do agree that is a possibility, what with him having Time/Space powers like Ultimecia, therefore allowing him to hop dimensions, it could turn this story into one of those "IT JUST WON'T DIE" things. You know, like Mega Man, Police Academy, or Joan Rivers. I might have write a sequel to this once I'm done with my second story, though... who know? I have a pretty nice idea for an epilogue... kukuku...

**Unyu**: The harems! Noooooooooooooooooooooooo! However, like piers, you have suggested the dimension hopping... meh. I may have to try my hand at it, though it's considerably hard to pull off Naruto's power in any other anime world, except perhaps Bleach or Dragon Ball Z where explosions of huge amounts of power are quite common. However, Naruto isn't a screamer, so DBZ is out due to the whole... "HEAR ME RAWR AS I ACCUMULATE POWAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" thing is kinda a 'no'.

**griffin blackwood**: Bleh. Harems are my pet peeve. Hardly anyone can pull it off well. However, I am glad you enjoy my story.

Enjoy the chapter!

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"**Spell/Jutsu"**

Disclaimer: I do not own FF7, FF8, Naruto, or any characters.

* * *

WEAPON's Revival

After convincing a nigh-hysteric Itachi, who was curled up in a ball and mumbling about 'fan girls', that they did have to go to Konoha, whether he liked it or not, the group set out on the road, dragging the broken body of Jiraiya behind them. They would conveniently slow down and allow swarms of women to beat the Toad Sannin, telling them of areas that were particularly sensitive, or bones that hadn't set yet and could be broken a bit more. Kisame and Itachi (when he wasn't having flashbacks to the times when the fangirls were after him) were surprisingly good traveling companions. Kisame had a sadistic sense of humor, and Itachi was rather apathetic, though the man would go ballistic if you touched his Pocky. After picking up a box in a town along the way home, Naruto tried the treat, and decided it was 'okay… but I prefer Dango'.

This sparked what would later be called the 'Clash of the Edible Titans'. Itachi would rant in a monotone about how Pocky was 'heaven on earth, absolutely delicious, and Dango can't compare', and Naruto would counter with a similar rant, though he did strike a low blow when he said that 'Dango beats that damn biscuit stick hands down'. This one comment changed the whole battle from verbal to physical, with spells and jutsus firing left and right as they continued to yell 'POCKY!' and 'DANGO!' at each other. Finally, Itachi, deciding he would be the bigger man, broke down and… used **Amaterasu (God of the Sun)**, confident that it would sway the argument in his favor. In return, Naruto cast **Apocalypse**, clashing with the **Amaterasu** and turning the tranquil forest glade they were currently occupying into what could be passed off as a large, barren wasteland, devoid of all life.

Finally, Kisame had to restrain Itachi with promises that 'Pocky will always be better, don't worry, or else the fan girls will swarm towards you intent on getting pictures of "Flustered Itachi"'. This, of course, caused another hysterical fit of shuddering and fetal positioning. Zabuza had to restrain Naruto as well, with claims that 'quit destroying the environment or you're going to have to do the dishes all by yourself when we get home', which caused a similar break down, complete with rocking, sobbing, and claims that 'THEY NEVER GET ANY CLEANER!'

Tsunade found this quite hilarious, as did Shizune, to see two of the most powerful shinobi in the history of the Elemental Countries to be reduced to sobbing heaps of hysterics. Jiraiya was out cold from his latest attack from enraged women, so he was unable to witness the event.

* * *

A few hours later…

They were rapidly approaching Konoha, now, as they had finally decided that they should go tree hopping instead of walking on the ground. After coming up with a clever solution to the Jiraiya situation (read: they kept dragging him across the tree branches, causing massive concussions, though no brain damage, as his skull was too thick for that to happen), they agreed, and set off. They were about fifteen miles away from Konoha, and Zabuza decided to ask the question of 'how do we get them to let Kisame and Itachi in?'

They all stopped where they were (with Jiraiya's body smashing into a passing squirrel, causing it to call for reinforcements and swarm the Sannin with their fluffy fury) and contemplated it. It was quite an odd occurrence, to have two S-rank nuke-nins come to Konoha for the sole purpose of guarding someone… Itachi was the first to comment, shrugging his shoulders indifferently and saying that he didn't care if they tried to stop their entrance, as they'll go in anyway. If they let them in, it would just mean fewer casualties. Kisame chuckled darkly at this, hoping for a chance for him to use Samehada, his sword, on a few Konoha nins. Naruto shot down that option, however, when he said he needed to be able to pray for two to three days in a somewhat frequented area, and that it wouldn't do well to have swarms of Konoha nins attacking his guards, and him by proxy, while he was trying to save the entire planet.

While they continued thinking on how to let the two in to Konoha, Zabuza finally came up with a brilliant solution.

"We can just say that, either they let them stay in Konoha, or else Itachi's fan girl legions will be very… _disappointed_ with their decision."

This caused Itachi and Naruto to both shudder violently, with the latter claiming that 'not even I can destroy the fangirl menace'. They all agreed that it was a foolproof plan; as the Uchiha's dark, mysterious exterior was quite a magnet for the masses of parasites (fan girls) that lurked within the village's walls.

Before they could continue towards the village, however, the earth started to shake violently. Naruto winced almost imperceptibly, but Zabuza could feel intense mental pain coming from his Sorceress, and pulled the younger teen close to him. At the questioning gaze at their nonchalance, given the magnitude of the shaking, Naruto replied with three words.

"WEAPON is alive."

* * *

In some dark, mysterious, and decidedly evil cave elsewhere…

Eight holograms were standing on different fingers of two giant statue's hands. The leader, as he was called, was chuckling maniacally. He was about 6'0", with orange-ish hair, multiple piercings on his face, and had concentric rings inside his eyes. He finally spoke, his voice distorted a little as it was a hologram, and his voice dripping with arrogance and smugness.

"We have succeeded, even without the Ichibi to fuel the ritual. Soon, Itachi and Kisame will be here with the Kyuubi, and we will control this weapon to conquer the world!"

At this point, a man seeming to be encased in a venus flytrap, with his body divided into two halves vertically, a black half and a white half, opened his yellow eyes, and shifted a little nervously. The leader noticed this, and turned to him.

"What is it, Zetsu?"

The plant man shifted again, before responding.

"Leader-sama, it seems Kisame and Itachi have defected, and are currently escorting the Kyuubi container back to Konoha. The beast we are reviving will be uncontrollable…"

The leader's eyes opened wide at this, and even his hologram paled at the implications.

"What?! No! How dare they!"

Further proclamations of how he was a god, and shall not be defied were interrupted, however, as the ground in the cave split in two, a large eye peering up at them as a large figure rose to the surface. All the Akatsuki spoke in unison as the eye widened, before narrowing towards them.

"Fuck."

The red, glowing eye glittered maliciously, before a surge of energy wiped out the cave, as well as sending all eight members of Akatsuki into a coma from their mental projections being obliterated, preventing further observation of the beast.

* * *

Back with Naruto…

The Sorceress was shaking a little, holding his head in pain before a high pitched, keening moan erupted from the ground, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Tsunade, Shizune, Itachi, and Kisame were quite shocked at this point, as not only was the resident Ancient seeming to be in horrible pain, but there was something moaning in pain, and nobody could place it. Zabuza cleared it up for them, as the shaking intensified, before subsiding.

"The planet itself is in pain."

A large, cobalt blast of blue energy erupted against the horizon, prompting Naruto to look up sharply at the source and mutter a soft 'WEAPON'.

Jenova and Ultimecia chose this time to summon themselves out into the corporeal world. Jenova was clothed in black shinobi pants, and a tight black T-shirt, and had her white hair pulled back in a ponytail. She had on fingerless gloves with metal plates on the backing, and was cracking her knuckles as she stared with her mismatched eyes at the beam of blue energy. She stretched out her right hand, and the Masamune molded out of her cells, the six foot long nodachi looking quite lethal in her capable hands.

Ultimecia was clothed in what could be called 'Sorceress Battle Garb'. Her metallic silver hair, complete with lightly glowing purple tips, was allowed to fall down her back, with the two thick strands of hair framing her face to fall halfway down her chest, ending just above her stomach. She was wearing a dark maroon gi, with wide, flowing sleeves, and a pair of black shinobi pants that ended halfway down her calves. She had no footwear on, showing her odd tattoos on her ankles, as well as her clawed toenails. She had on fingerless gloves as well, with the same metal backing, and she was flexing her long, clawed fingertips, dark purple energy swirling around them as she started to stretch, warming up for the fight.

Tsunade, Shizune, Jiraiya (who had finally recovered well enough to be awake and standing), Itachi, and Kisame all tensed at the two women. A few of them thought they could see a resemblance between them and Naruto, but dismissed it as these two had appeared out of thin air, and looked to be ready for a fight. Naruto's voice shocked them farther, as he stood up slowly, swaying a bit as the pain receded from his mind, the WEAPON now fully active and out of the planet, halting the pain. The threat was still dire, though, so he had to hurry back to Konoha.

"Jenova-okaasan, Ultimecia-okaasan, are you two going to fight it?"

Two pairs of eyes, one a bright, glowing gold, and the other a mismatched pair of softly glowing green, and brightly glowing piercing red rested on the Sorceress, before both nodded in unison. Jenova shifted into a running stance, and Ultimecia started to float over the ground, as Jenova spoke in a sibilant whisper.

"We're going to delay it as long as we possibly can. You need to go pray for Holy, and fast. We can hold it off for a day or so, but it will come for you as it can sense that you are a threat to its existence. Now go!"

The Calamity broke out into a dead sprint, leaving multiple afterimages in her wake at her pure speed, her ethereal hair flying out like a banner behind her as she disappeared into the distance. Ultimecia was the next to speak, her gentle voice a deep contrast to her imposing figure, as her facial tattoos started to glow a slight purple. Her golden irises disappeared into a bright golden light, as the Sorceress power started to manifest more as she concentrated. Her black angel wings spread out behind her as the glow enveloped her eyes, before spreading further, until a thick band of golden light was all that there was in place of her eyes.

"We will do all that we can to halt its movement. Do not let any impede upon your task, as it is of the direst emergency. WEAPON is capable of destroying entire countries in mere hours, so you must hurry."

With her warning given, she disappeared into thin air, leaving no trace that she was ever there.

The group turned to Naruto, who turned to stare at Konoha. He finally sighed heavily in resignation and turned back to stare at them all.

"Since this is of the direst importance, questions will not be answered. We need to move, and quickly. Full out sprinting, I don't care if you start to tire, I will carry you. Anyone who tries to halt us on the way to the destination gets dispatched, lethally or no. I'd rather not kill anyone, but if they try to do anything…"

He let his sentence drift off after that, and jumped to the trees. His teleportation wasn't great at long distances, and he needed all the power he had to be able to fight off enemies should they try to stop his prayer.

They all nodded, their questions still swimming around their mind as they, too, followed the Sorceress in the trees. They were able to keep up with him, though barely, as his speed greatly belied his delicate-looking figure.

* * *

In Konoha…

The village was nearly panicking at the turn of events. First, a giant earthquake complete with mysterious moans of pain occurred, not unlike what happened before the Kyuubi attacked. Then, a giant cobalt beam of energy appeared on the horizon, shooting up into the air. Everyone sensed a malicious intent about it, and were thinking it was another Kyuubi attack. Before the village could erupt into civil war over what to do should another Kyuubi attack, as there was no Yondaime to die for it this time, seven figures sped towards the village at high speeds, outstripping that of most Jounin or ANBU. The ANBU force gathered at the gates, to witness two Sannin, two nuke-nin, a Sannin's apprentice, the Demon of the Mist, and the newly titled Konoha's Tenshi sprinting full on towards the gates. The ANBU tensed as they saw Itachi and Kisame, and were preparing for battle. Before they could do anything, though, the soft voice of Naruto carried towards them on the wind.

"Attack any of my guardians, and I will make the Kyuubi attack look like the fox just sneezed on the village. Move out of the way."

The ANBU, sensing that there was no lie in the voice, immediately separated to two sides of the gate, to witness what could be called the fastest speed without using **Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God)**. Multiple afterimages were left in each person's wake, though a few would be oddly comical, like the pained looks on Jiraiya's afterimages' faces, should the situation be any less dire. The ANBU continued to follow them, though at a safe distance. The group finally stopped at the Konoha memorial stone, and all shifted into defensive stances. The ANBU captain stepped forward and asked the question on all their minds.

"Why have you brought two S-rank nuke-nin to Konoha? What is their purpose?"

Naruto turned to give them the full force of his patented Sorceress Deathglare, causing Itachi to step back in fright and slight awe of the awesome power placed into that one eye movement. The ANBU captain shivered a bit and cowered where he was standing, afraid to move under the scrutinizing mismatched gaze.

"The blue beam of energy is Akatsuki's doing, resurrecting an ancient and powerful biomechanical entity hell-bent on reducing everything to nothingness. Currently, I'm the only one alive that can stop it, and they're going to be protecting me while I do so. Any potential threat to my wellbeing will be met with lethal force, whether by me, or by one of them. The WEAPON will be heading towards Konoha to destroy me, as I am a threat to it, so I recommend evacuating the village."

The captain looked at them suspiciously, before nodding, and sending all the ANBU to evacuate every citizen out of Konoha. If the thing was as powerful as the young man said… not even the hidden areas inside the Hokage Mountain would protect them.

Naruto knelt down at the memorial stone, and started the preparations for Holy. A bright green-white light enveloped him, and a woman's form appeared beside him in the same position as he was. She looked to be around 20 or 21, 5'3" tall, and was holding a rather exquisite staff. She had long, brown hair tied back in a loose twist, and was wearing a pink dress with a red jacket. Soon after, the same staff appeared in Naruto's hands, and they both tilted their heads forward. The marble in the single socket within Naruto's staff, as well as a matching marble placed within a pink bow tying the woman's hair back began to sparkle.

The woman spoke in an ethereal murmur as they both concentrated intensely, the green light coalescing around the two, and causing multiple flowers to erupt from the ground.

"I am Aeris, the closest Ancient to Naruto. I will be helping him perform the spell, as I have had to cast it once in my lifetime. I will not let the Planet be threatened by this menace again."

Zabuza, Kisame, Itachi, Shizune, and Tsunade all nodded, before forming a pentagon formation around the memorial stone, each sliding into a defensive stance. Jiraiya had gone to inform the Elders of what was happening, hopefully to prevent them from trying something stupid.

* * *

Back with Jenova and Ultimecia…

Jenova was currently locked in melee combat with the WEAPON, her Masamune pressed hard against its claws. It was a huge monstrosity, easily rivaling the Kyuubi in height, and was colored a pitch black. It had heavy scales providing it with armor, and had a rather odd cannon-like thing in its chest. It stood on four short legs which supported its body and tail, while its chest was held upwards, along with its two arms. It had three long spikes adorning its head, and two brightly glowing red eyes set within its face. Its mouth had no teeth, but instead had sharp crags of the same scale-like armor it had all over its body.

The nodachi was locked against the foe's sharp claws, and both were straining with considerable strength, hoping to push the other backward. The WEAPON, annoyed with it being a tie, flicked its tail and tried to smash the woman. Jenova hopped a hundred feet away, before giving a slight smirk.

Ultimecia faded into the air above the monstrosity, her hands glowing a violent purple as she raised both arms up above her head, before slamming them both down into the air. A large meteor fell from the skies and impacted the WEAPON, causing it to howl in pain before the damage regenerated itself, and turned its malicious gaze upon the Sorceress, who, to her credit, didn't falter in the slightest. She raised both arms above her head once more, and hundreds of ice spears coalesced into existence before flinging themselves towards the black menace. The WEAPON made a slight snorting sound, as if laughing at her attempt, as the spears all shattered upon contact.

Jenova had taken this time to shift into a more appropriate form. She replicated and molded her cells at an astonishing rate, her pure experience in its use far outclassing Naruto, who preferred to use it simply as a cosmetic ability instead of a combat ability. She didn't fault him for it, however, as his Sorceress abilities weren't fully mastered yet, and the combat uses of cellular manipulation, while vast, required decades of trial and error, which he simply didn't have.

Her organs, bones, muscles, and flesh all shifted, disintegrated, recreated, and moved at a rapid pace. Soon, she had ascended to the same height as the WEAPON itself, while still retaining most of her humanoid state. She retained her light blue skin, as well as mismatched eyes and ethereal white hair. She still had arms and legs, though the bones and muscles were augmented by her manipulation, giving her more power. She had no fingernails or toenails, though, and lacked clothing, a mouth, breasts, nose, genetalia or ears, however, as they provided absolutely no combat uses while fighting such a monstrosity. She could 'hear' through vibrations in the ground, warning her of an impending attack, though. She had two red, fleshy wings sprouting out of her back, as well as eight black tentacles, which were swaying viciously to either side of her. The two wings began to glow as they started to charge up her own brand of Magic.

She sprinted at the WEAPON, a larger representation of the Masamune in her hands and crashing down on it, as her wings fired burst after burst of elemental energy in bright flashes of light, beating down on the monster as her tentacles whipped and snapped at it. Her odd voice boomed over the entire planet through the minds of all living creatures, proving that she did, indeed, have another way of communicating.

"I am Jenova. I may have been unable to stop you before, but I will be damned if I let you harm anyone this time, WEAPON! I WILL CRUSH YOU!"

Ultimecia gazed in slight shock at the transformation, before nodding ruefully and beginning her own. Her golden band of light where her eyes used to be spread further, enveloping her entire face as her body began to change, proof of the secret, fourth Sorceress Transformation. She was going to tell Naruto about this secret later on in his life, as it was a highly dangerous transformation, and could cost the Sorceress his/her sanity from the pure power of it.

Her silver hair lifted up on her head, before separating into two strands, and morphing into a wicked looking ornamental set of wings, attached to the top of her head. Two 'horns' sprouted from either side of her head, silver in color, and adorned with purple tips. Her black wings twisted and contorted, becoming a rather wicked looking set of purple spiky wings, though they were clearly dysfunctional should she try to use them to fly. Her clothing shifted into a flowing gown, spreading over thirty feet behind her as well as to either side. Her skin and physical attributes shifted grotesquely, her normally human looking fingers transforming into a set of lethally pointed appendages, resembling fingers, yet were more like flexible claws. Her skin splotched and colored randomly, barely classifying her as human. The oddest part of the transformation was her fully 'human' appearance, suspended upside-down from beneath the gown. Her face was twisted into a determined expression, and, though mute, was the true Ultimecia. The figure above her was the physical expression of all her power, and she controlled it with her mind alone.

Her own telepathic message boomed across the planet, as the fifty-something foot tall grotesque figure with the gown floated up into the sky, golden and purple waves of energy emanating from behind it as it prepared to fight alongside Jenova.

"I am Ultimecia. Though my own transgressions are many, I will not let you harm the inhabitants of this planet. Your existence shall be denied, WEAPON. We will let you move no further!"

Jenova sent a mental approval of the Sorceress' transformation, before the battle had begun for the fate of the Planet. Forbidden Magic was cast at but a whim, newly created Forbidden Magic thought up on the spot before also being cast. Giant sword swings sliced through the air, causing sonic booms in their wake from the speed and power put behind it. Tentacles flailed in seemingly random patterns, striking at any and all weak points sensed upon the massive black creature. The alien's unique form of magic working in tandem with the Sorceress' own brand, bringing on newly created natural disasters to fling against their common enemy.

The two giant figures fought it out against the monstrous WEAPON. No words were needed, as spells were cast without spoken word. The environment was devastated beyond repair where they fought, marred with large chasms from deflected strikes of the nodachi, huge craters from Forbidden Magic, and deep trenches from the WEAPON's own attacks. No holds were barred, no quarter given.

People around the world marveled at the feeling of power emanating from that one area, too afraid to investigate. Two individuals, one an Ancient, and one the spirit of an Ancient, both had two identical tears trailing down their faces as they prayed.

* * *

Twelve hours later…

The battle was still going strong, and though each party had landed devastating strikes upon one another, a combination of healing magic as well as natural regeneration kept the three combatants fighting at maximum efficiency. Jenova had returned the Masamune to her body, as the sword was getting her nowhere fast. She was now fighting in hand-to-hand combat, molding trillions of cells within a blink of an eye to change her hands to resemble spears to attempt to impale the armor, before shifting back to change into something else to try to land a crippling blow. The tentacles had backed off, and were now assisting the wings in casting her brand of magic, firing beams of different colored energy at the WEAPON, while her wings cast waves of pure elemental power against the monster.

Ultimecia had briefly broadcast a telepathic apology to the two praying Ancients for the amount of destruction she would be causing with her spells. Both Aeris and Naruto assured her that it would be alright, that as long as WEAPON was defeated or delayed, that they would repair the damage at a later date, and for the Grand Sorceress to use everything in her arsenal to stop the enemy.

The woman replied with what could be felt as sad smile, before she re-engaged the enemy with even more fervor. Her spells ravaged the environment as they slammed into the WEAPON's armor and delivered backlash. She used each of her different elements to the fullest, using anything that came to mind to give her son more time to generate the spell. Something appeared in her head, and she just had to do it.

She weaved an intricate web of mana, imbuing it with a Stop spell before adding her extra effects while her upper half kept the barrage of comets, meteors, ice spears the size of glaciers, and intense elemental magic up on the WEAPON. Several hundred thousand ice needles rivaling the Hokage Tower in height were spread amongst the web, each one not even two inches in width to give them maximum impaling efficiency. Each one was tipped with a highly fatal toxin, and surrounded by a field of energy to allow it to properly embed into WEAPON, before she moved the Stop-web over the WEAPON. She sent a telepathic order to Jenova, who hopped out of the way while firing a larger salvo of magic to slightly delay the WEAPON while Ultimecia got the web into place. Upon a mental order, the web collapsed upon itself, all the needles that were frozen in time collapsing upon their target and breaking through the armor, injecting their venomous payload.

The WEAPON howled in rage and agony, before the needles were melted by an intense heat wave emanating from the black figure's body. The poison was purged by its natural immune system, and the wounds closed. The damage, however, was done. The WEAPON started to lose itself to its rage, and continued to attack the two, though its attacks were a bit more slipshod than normal. Jenova sent an appraising feeling through telepathy towards the Sorceress, before blocking a rather painful strike sent her way.

The Grand Sorceress gave a mental impression of a devious grin, before she continued her own battle against the monstrosity.

* * *

Back with Naruto…

Naruto was currently about a third done with the Holy spell, and the Lifestream was starting to move in accordance. The Holy materia was shimmering a pale green by now, but Aeris had said that only when it was shining like a light would the spell be completed. All of Konoha could clearly hear the sounds of the epic battle, and marveled as the ground shook in protest to the powerful attacks being used. Itachi and Kisame were nearly sweating in fear of what could have happened should they have stayed with Akatsuki.

The group gave a start as the white-green aura flashed brighter, and green mist started to coalesce around the two praying. Most of the shinobi from Konoha landed around the clearing to investigate, and were surprised at the appearance of the two nuke-nin. However, their shock at the scene before them kept them from moving.

Naruto and a spectral figure of a woman were both deep in prayer, with a field of flowers surrounding them at the memorial stone. A bright green aura had enveloped them both, and a green mist was starting to form around both of them as they continued to pray. A single gem, one in the middle of the teen's staff, as well as an identical one in the woman's hair bow, were shimmering a soft white-green. The power being gathered by the two was incredible, and scared most of the Naruto-haters.

The shinobi were about to attack the group, thinking they were going to do something destructive to Konoha, when Zabuza spoke in a gruff voice as he lifted Kubukiri Houcho into a ready stance.

"These two are the only chance of anyone surviving what was revived by Akatsuki. If you show any hint of malice towards them, all five of us will defend them to our deaths. While Naruto may be immobile, his power sure isn't and will also lash out at anyone who it deems a threat."

The shinobi recoiled in fear at the proclamation, before one brave (read: idiotic) soul threw a kunai at the Sorceress, deep in prayer. The kunai halted in mid air, before disintegrating, and a spear of black ice, easily rivaling a zanbato in length as well as width, was launched in retaliation at blinding speeds. The idiot never knew what hit him, though everyone was now extremely wary of the power the boy was showing on an unconscious level. Tsunade spoke next, as she shifted into a defensive stance, her honey colored eyes glinting in anticipation.

"You all will want to either run, or stay here and defend. The two currently fighting the monster won't be able to hold it off for more than another twenty hours, and these two require about twenty eight more hours before the ritual is complete, so the thing will be coming here to try to kill the boy, as he is a threat to its existence."

Most of the shinobi looked at each other, before running in a panic, trying to get away from the warpath that was sure to be carved towards the two praying individuals. Two, however, stayed for a minute or two. Kakashi and Haku. Ino stayed for a few moments to ask a question, before sprinting away with the others without waiting for an answer, screaming.

"Those two voices… I've heard them once before. When we graduated, we were required to do a few ninjutsu, as well as one optional jutsu. Naruto had created clones from his body, and formed two women out of them, named Jenova and Ultimecia. We didn't really pay attention to the event, but after that proclamation now… He said Ultimecia was a Grand Sorceress, the one who caused Time Compression all those years ago, and that Jenova was an alien whose body was used in an attempt to destroy the planet. How can Naruto be a threat to whatever is coming, if those two working together will only be able to delay it?"

Kakashi, Zabuza, and Haku looked at each other, before nodding. They turned to the absolutely shell shocked four other defenders and shrugged. Haku was the one that spoke.

"Ultimecia and Jenova are the two who raised Naruto, and both trained him as well as gave him a foundation in their abilities. Naruto was probably holding back in during the invasion, as he didn't want to cause much collateral damage."

Itachi, Kisame, Tsunade, and Shizune all looked towards the praying figure, where the green mist was starting to thicken, before blinking in surprise. Zabuza, however, was looking oddly forlorn.

'_He's got all that power… but he's still fragile. He needs me to be there with him, as otherwise he gets lost in his own power, not knowing what to do with it.'_

Kakashi and Haku left to help people escape the warpath, and to warn those in the way that something huge was going to come.

* * *

Twelve hours later…

Orochimaru arrived, inside a new body, with Sasuke in tow. Orochimaru wanted to find out who was generating so much power, as this power wasn't as… volatile… as the three currently battling it out in the middle of River Country, on the border of Fire Country.

Orochimaru looked just like he always did, though this time he was noticeably less riddled with holes from ice shards. Sasuke, however, looked positively… slutty? And was wearing a giant purple bow on his ass?

Itachi had to stifle a snicker at how far his little brother had fallen, though he did feel remorseful about it. Sadly, though, the boy was too blinded in his hatred and revenge to be redeemable.

Kisame broke out into raucous laughter at the younger Uchiha's attire, and almost couldn't continue to stand.

Zabuza was snickering loudly at the young man's attire, but was able to keep most of his composure intact.

Tsunade handed Shizune a large sum of money, telling her to pay off all her debts if they lived through this, as she never wanted to have to stoop so far to get money as Sasuke was to get power.

Shizune, while highly disturbed at the Snake Sannin Apprentice's attire, was gleeful that Tsunade was giving up gambling to avoid such a fate.

Sasuke, seeing all the snickers and laughter directed at him, gave off his famous Uchiha Deathglare, though the effects were incredibly dampened by the ass-bow.

His sight finally set on Itachi, and his one-tomoe Sharingan flared to life as he screamed "ITACHI!!" and charged at the elder Uchiha, regardless of Orochimaru's reprimanding of 'Sasuke-kun, not now'.

Before the elder Uchiha brother could forcibly remove his brother from the premises, a blast of energy from Naruto knocked Sasuke into a tree, and buried him up to his neck into the ground, where he brooded about how he wanted that power.

Orochimaru, seeing the power display from the praying teen, tried to advance on him only to be cut off by his female teammate, her apprentice, two S-rank nuke-nin, and the former Demon of the Mist. His serpentine eyes glared heavily at them for preventing him in his quest for power, and he attacked. Naruto's magic, sensing the ill intent from the Snake Sannin, started to fight him in their place. Thick icicles condensed from water vapor in the air, before flying towards the Snake Sannin, while huge pillars of earth exploded from the ground. Everywhere Orochimaru tried to dodge was already trapped with yet another spell in wait for him, whether it be the ground falling underneath him, a blast of fire out of thin air, a lightning bolt from the skies, or a spear of ice waiting to impale him. Finally fed up with it, he extended his neck and tried to give the boy a cursed seal, but was repulsed by Tsunade's fist meeting his face, smashing his nose and cracking some of his bones.

"Orochimaru, we will not let you harm him. He's the only person capable of preventing the monstrosity awakened by Akatsuki from destroying the entire planet."

The Snake Sannin, too proud to admit that he was beaten, continued to fight and was repelled each time by one of the guardians, or by the instinctual use of magic from the Sorceress himself. Finally fed up with the failure, he pulled his apprentice from the ground and prepared to leave. Sasuke, however, had other ideas, and was intent on either killing his former teammate or killing his older brother. He charged at Itachi, with a katana in his hand and tried to impale the elder Uchiha, who pulled a wakizashi from behind his back and deflected the attack harmlessly. His black eyes morphed into the Mangekyo, and he pulled his younger brother into the world of **Tsukiyomi (Goddess of the Moon)**.

* * *

Inside Tsukiyomi world…

Itachi gave a sadistic smirk at Sasuke, who was crucified against a cross. His voice echoed around the empty clearing within the blood-red tinged world, and the scream of pure terror from Sasuke echoed up to the blood moon above.

"For the next 24 hours, you will be repeatedly assaulted by… your fan girls."

* * *

Outside the Tsukiyomi world…

Sasuke gave a terrified shriek before collapsing into a heap of gibberish, sweating profusely and mumbling incoherently. Kisame looked at Itachi who looked oddly… amused?

The elder Uchiha sated his curiosity with a single sentence.

"He is being tortured by his fan girls."

Orochi-pedo scooped up his apprentice, managing to fondle him inappropriately at the same time, and disappeared in a standard **Shunshin (Body Flicker)** to get Kabuto to heal his mind for more… 'playtime'.

* * *

Inside the Tsukiyomi world…

Sasuke, who was in near hysterics from the first assault, gazed in horrified awe of his older brother as the next punishment was given.

"For the next 24 hours, you will be repeatedly molested by your fan girls, with different ideas given to them by Orochimaru himself."

His black eyes opened wide at the absolute horror, before he descended into screaming again.

* * *

Outside world, roughly forty hours after WEAPON was engaged…

Jenova and Ultimecia, both deathly tired from their nearly two-day fight against the monstrosity, faded into inexistence to return to Naruto's mind to get a much needed rest. They sent one last telepathic message to the five guardians, as well as Naruto and Aeris, however, before they completely faded out.

"We have managed to slow it down… it will arrive within four hours to engage you, Naruto. Please… be careful."

The Sorceress, still deep within prayer as the green mist rose in wisps around him, gave a gentle murmur to those around him.

"We have four hours to prepare. If there is anything you regret, or wish to speak about to those you love, now is the time. When WEAPON arrives, I will fight it as Aeris continues to pray. I will not hold back, so I suggest everyone moves a few hundred yards out."

Tsunade, Shizune, Kisame, and Itachi all nodded before heading off in different directions. Zabuza, stayed where he was, however. The ex-Mist-nin gave the Sorceress' praying form a soft smile before wrapping both arms around the teen from behind, lending moral support as the younger teen kept praying. His skin tingled with pins and needles where it touched against Naruto's, a testament to the power flowing through him to continue the prayer. He gave a soft murmur into the boy's white-silver hair, and gave him a warm hug before backing up to continue his guarding.

"Whether or not you want me to leave, I will stay by your side. However, I do know I will be no match for what is coming, so I will move out of the way then so that you don't have to worry about my safety. I believe in you, Naruto, and I know you will win."

Unseen to Zabuza, a single, glowing tear dripped from the teen's blue-green eye.

* * *

With Tsunade…

She went to go visit Jiraiya, who she just _knew _was on top of the Yondaime's head on the Hokage monument. If there was a possibility of all life as we know it being destroyed, he would be there to talk to his favorite student, and she would go there to find him and speak her mind. Jiraiya was the only one constantly around her, whether she wanted him to be or not, through most of her life's tragedies so they both sought solace in the other's presence. Though if the perv tried to touch her boobs again, she'd knock him off the cliff's edge.

* * *

With Shizune…

She went to go visit the graveyard to pay her respects to her uncle Dan, who was Tsunade's fiancé once upon a time. She also recanted a bunch of the happier times she had with Tsunade, that she was sure that the woman hadn't told the soul of her lover when they met just a few days ago. She was almost positive she could hear her uncle laughing softly at some of the stories, including one where Tsunade was unable to fit through a particularly tight space due to her large bust, and had gotten stuck. She had sent Shizune (who was having a fit of laughter) to get her some oil to get her out of the compromising position.

* * *

With Itachi…

He went to the Uchiha clan compound, and headed directly towards the cemetery. He paid respects to each and every one of the Uchihas located there, before heading to the Clan Head's Mausoleum, where the single family line of Clan Heads and their families were buried. He set black roses on each of the headstones of his mother and father, apologizing for not being able to protect them from the fan girls. Unbeknownst to him, a single tear escaped his normally emotionless eyes, and landed on the headstone of his mother.

* * *

With Kisame…

Kisame, not knowing any people in Konoha, decided that he would pay respects for his brethren. Finding a local sushi shop (deserted, of course, due to impending crisis), he freed all the still living fish into a local lake, and gave the already dead ones a proper burial. He silently vowed a horrible vengeance upon the sushi chefs, and destroyed the shop with a few quick swings of his Samehada.

* * *

In the Tsukiyomi world…

Sasuke, nearly breaking from the strain of having been molested in his mind by fan girls who had gotten perverse ideas from his new mentor, Orochimaru, still had another full 24 hours to go.

Itachi seemed to have escalated to a new level of evil, in Sasuke's mind. His final punishment nearly broke poor Sasuke's sanity.

"For the final 24 hours… you will watch your fan girls… prepare delicious onigiri (rice balls, Sasuke's favorite food), and then eat them in front of you while forcing you to watch. At the same time, they will also be squealing about eating their 'Sasuke-kun's favorite food'. Enjoy, little brother."

His screams of agony and torment resounded throughout the world of his mind.

Kabuto's medical expertise was almost not enough to save the poor Uchiha, though when he awoke from his coma he immediately cowered into a corner, rocking back and forth in severe mental stress, while sobbing and mumbling about fan girls.

* * *

Back with Naruto…

A deep, guttural roar could be heard in the distance, and Naruto's body tensed. Both eyes opened, glowing their respective colors as he began to float off the ground. The earth started to shake as the WEAPON got closer and closer, and Zabuza headed out of the way, but not before giving his Sorceress a kiss on the lips, saying that it was for good luck.

Three words escaped Naruto's lips as his body started to glow in preparation of the final battle.

"It is time."

* * *

Author's Note: I hope I wrote the fighting out well... anyway. The next chapter is the final chapter, and will probably be just as short (or as long) as this one, as it'll be one large fight scene between Naruto and WEAPON. Reviews are wonderful, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!


	10. The Final Battle

Author's Note: Final chapter. I think I did pretty well with it, but meh. It's still short by my standards, damnit. Oh well. Epilogue will follow before the story is finally done. I hope you like it!

Reviewers!

**Unyu**: Close! It's Ultima Weapon, the flying one. However, it lacks wings because I want it to have that awesome Godzilla water-droplet effect when it's running around. However, beefed up completely so that it puts up a good fight and doesn't run away. Also, I don't absolutely hate harems, but I do feel annoyed when I see how I'd guess... 60 of the stories I've seen as I try to find good stories are harem? And it's almost never a real number like three or so... it's like... NaruxAnkoxKurexTemaxTenxHinaxInoxSakuraxEverythingwithboobs. I actually like Pokegirl world stories, as they had a good reason, if a bit perverted, to have a harem. Plus, there's a physical reason for sexing up about 6 different women.

**Love Psycho**: You'll have to see the Epilogue to find out, bwahaha. I might do a sequel, but a plot bunny is currently trying to invade my mind, and I really don't think I can write more than two stories at once. I have to sort this plot bunny out, and figure out if I really want to write it out or not before I start to think of writing a sequel for this. If I don't write a sequel, I'm sorry for the story feeling rushed, but I can't see myself writing some 200k+ word story, especially after the ending I gave this one.

**griffin blackwood**: Eh... I'll think about it. Thanks for the complement, though! This is actually my first story ever, so to hear something like that really helps.

**NaruxHinata-Rules**: DBZ was really confusing for me... it was like... "WE DESTROYED THIS WORLD! FUCK! LET'S GO TO THE NEXT ONE!" followed by about... fifteen episodes of just flying in between planets? It was kind of ridiculous to me. FFX... maybe... we'll see...

**moonlit dew**: I have to say, you're one of my favorite reviewers who's been with me for most of this entire story. I always wondered why Sasuke agreed to the ass-bow, when he basically could get whatever the hell his spoiled ass wanted in Oto. He could have rejected the bow and probably still be trained, which makes you wonder... does he really enjoy it?

Enjoy the chapter!

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"**Spell/Jutsu"**

Disclaimer: I do not own FF7, FF8, Naruto, or any of their characters. If I did, Naruto would leave Konoha, Aeris would bitchslap Sephiroth for stabbing her, and Rinoa wouldn't be an idiotic, overly-peppy cheerleader. Who the hell has meetings- top secret meetings- by crouching on the floor within hearing range of people?

* * *

The Final Battle

The ground was cracking in places as the heavy footsteps of the WEAPON thundered closer and closer to Konoha. Naruto disappeared into thin air, fading out of existence as he teleported far away from Konoha, so that the aftershocks of the fight wouldn't destroy the village. As he slipped through the void of time and space, a few quite insane thoughts made themselves known inside his mind.

'…_did I leave the stove on…?'_

'_I wonder what Kisame would taste like if we turned him into sushi…'_

The more logical side of his mind kicked in at this point, and answered his own questions as he reappeared a few miles away from the village, ready to face the WEAPON's onslaught.

'_Obviously, I didn't leave the stove on, as I was gone from the village for a few days, and Kisame would probably taste somewhat a mixture between shark, dolphin, and a little bit of anchovy. '_

He pushed the odd thoughts of him going insane far away from the front of his mind, preferring to think on that later. The WEAPON would arrive soon, and he should prepare as much as possible. His clothing cells molded into a bit more appropriate battle garb, though not by much. Thick scales of hardened cells, rivaling reinforced steel, shifted onto his body to protect him from outside force. His entire body covered itself with these scales, each only about the size of a penny so as to not obstruct movement. They didn't look much different than normal skin, aside from the rather obvious part that they're much tougher.

His long sleeved fishnet undershirt, as well as his black short sleeved shirt he wore over it, hardened and increased in density, becoming more of a cloth-like metal armor. His black shinobi pants increased in density as well, helping to protect his lower body.

He started to glow brighter, as the earth-shaking stomps of the WEAPON came closer and closer. The Sorceress started to hover in mid air, the odd wings materializing behind him as he meditated. He floated, motionless in the Lotus position as he began to draw out more power than he ever had before. He meticulously captured every strand of stray Mana that threatened to escape his consciousness, and brought his repertoire up to the surface, ready to be called at an instant. He continued to draw on more and more power, layering it just within reach of his mind in preparation for the fight.

* * *

Four hours later…

The deafening roar of the WEAPON came from a few hundred feet away as the monstrosity finally set eyes on the one that was a threat to its very existence. Naruto broke out of his meditation to dodge a thick beam of blue energy, expelled from the black WEAPON's chest-cannon. Flipping backwards through the air, he finally leveled out at around one hundred feet up, making himself level with the WEAPON's eyes. He gazed into them, feeling with a pang of remorse that there was no consciousness to the monster. What he saw was pure hatred for all life, dedicated to performing its job, regardless of the harm it causes.

Heaving a slight sigh, Naruto erected a wall of prismatic energy in front of his form, feeling quite small against the overpowering presence of the WEAPON. He locked gazes with the WEAPON again, calling out his staff as he prepared for the fight of his life. He struck with strength equal to that of Jenova when she was still at his height, the staff being blocked only by the claws of the entity. He pressed his strength against that of the WEAPON's, gauging how powerful it was after fighting both his kaasans continuously.

They both broke away from the deadlock, and the WEAPON struck out at him with another beam of energy from the cannon, driving a deep gouge into the earth as he barely managed to get out of the way in time. Drawing on his Mana, he countered with a large comet streaking from the heavens to slam into the heavily armored lower body, simultaneously calling up the ground below to strike in a pincer maneuver.

His mind felt unnervingly detached from the situation as he continued to fight, though the monster's regeneration and healing capabilities were slightly astounding to the Sorceress. He did have to give a grudging respect to the WEAPON as they continued fighting, though. It obviously did its job well… a little too well.

His train of thought was halted as the entity slammed into him with a surprisingly quick slap of its tail, throwing him into the ground from the force of it. The **Wall** spell he erected softened the blow considerably, but he still felt the intense pain of much of his spinal column cracking from that blow. He lay there for less than a moment as the cells healed, before he could move. He teleported upwards, just in time as the lethal claws raked across the crater he had previously occupied.

Raising himself into the air, he started to throw himself into the fight. His Mana was already brought to the surface, so spoken words weren't needed to call up his power. He pounded into the monster with everything in a horrific volley, determined to try to cause as much damage as possible before the regeneration could heal it over.

Hundreds of comets struck from the skies, cracking and shattering the plated armor on its back as they all impacted on the WEAPON's lower half. Thick spears of earth erupted from the ground, impaling through some weaker areas on the underside of its body as thin ice needles rushed for its torso. No restrictions were held, as he needed everything to fight against it, and he definitely didn't have as much power or endurance as Jenova or Ultimecia to fight it for prolonged periods of time.

The WEAPON let loose a bellow of rage and pain as all three attacks struck at once, stunning the Sorceress from a combination of the volume as well as all the emotion poured into the sound. For his hesitance, he was slammed back into the ground like an annoying bug, bones cracking and causing intense internal bleeding from the impact.

Black tendrils started to edge at his vision, but he blinked them away through pure force of will as he renewed his **Wall**, using his curative magic to heal his injuries as best as he could. His face set into a determined line, mind blank as he continued his assault on the one entity on the entire planet that could give him a true fight.

* * *

Two hours later…

Naruto was hanging onto his consciousness with but a thread by this point, as he had been smacked around like a rag doll by the WEAPON. He was able to dodge most of the strikes, due to his smaller nature and faster movement, but the entity was just so… big! It was hard to dodge a strike when you had to move thirty feet in one direction to avoid getting hit.

The WEAPON wasn't doing that great either, though neither of them had many visible injuries. The black scaled beast was steadily losing itself to more and more rage, its attacks, while frenzied in nature, more inaccurate as it tried to eliminate the threat. The WEAPON did have quite a few plates of its armor missing, and it was bleeding thick, inky black blood sluggishly through a few holes where it was stabbed ruthlessly with spears of earth or ice.

Naruto had thick bruises covering most of his body, making it hard to move as his cells continuously regenerated the worst of the damage. He used his curative magic to help along with the regeneration, but there was just so much damage done to him it was taking awhile for the bleeding to stop. His vision was almost completely black as unconsciousness kept calling for him, but he refused to go without a fight.

Ultimecia and Jenova were unable to help him now, as they, too, were unconscious from the fighting they had to do. They would be out for awhile still. The White Materia within his staff was glowing brighter, and it was almost finished, but he had to fight off the WEAPON until Aeris finished her prayer, or else the black monstrosity could simply blast the area where she was praying and break her concentration.

He stubbornly continued to fight against the WEAPON, bringing the battlefield to a whole new level as he let his power surge through him.

Thick gouts of white-hot flame spawned out of thin air, buffeting the black entity with enough heat to cause the remaining grass within a hundred feet to combust. The WEAPON howled in agony and intense anger as the exposed areas of its flesh were burned heavily from the attack, before halting into an unnerving silence.

The red eyes closed, and it seemed to be concentrating heavily on something. The cannon started to glow, but was left unnoticed by Naruto due to tunnel vision. The Sorceress could barely see, with more than half his mind into unconsciousness, he could only focus his power and try to fight as best as he could. Hundreds of chunks of earth, easily the size of trees, pulled free of the ground and sharpened their ends into points. They all converged onto the silent entity, stabbing at every exposed surface, before exploding into smaller shards of rock once they impaled as far as they could go into the monster.

Naruto was quite unnerved by the silence, but was unable to contemplate it further as a monstrous blast of energy exploded from the cannon within the WEAPON's chest, enveloping him in a blue light and slamming him forcefully into the earth. The power of the attack snapped the last thread that held his mind to the waking world, allowing the Sorceress to slip into blissful unconsciousness as his body worked feverishly to heal the damage caused. The WEAPON was left immobile for the moment, too much having gone into that one attack.

* * *

In his mind…

Naruto's eyes flickered before opening to the familiar sight of the Sleeping Forest, home to his magical core. He checked down at his body, before realizing he was unharmed within his mind. Struggling to sit up as intense weariness set in, he felt a faint calling to his mind and decided to follow it.

Feeling almost zombified, he followed the tugging that was pulling at him, going deeper and deeper within his trance. He ignored the faint calling of Ultimecia, who had woken at the sudden surge of pain going through her son's body, choosing instead to follow the feeling pulling him further.

He made his way further, towards the clearing that he knew held the absolute center of his magic. The tugging was getting more incessant the further he went, and felt his pace slowed by an intense force as he came closer and closer to the beacon that was calling towards him.

His feet sluggishly but doggedly continued to walk, feeling oddly like he was wading through snow to get towards his core. A haunting melody started to play in the distance, sparking his mind to start working again and pull him out of the daze.

'_A melody…? In my… mind…?'_

He moved quicker towards his core, determined to find out the source of the music. The song was sending chills down his spine as he moved further, and the clearing came into view. He pressed against the force pushing him back, as if he were trying to move through a swamp as he continued to move forward up the stepping stones. His body felt lethargic, his blood feeling as if it was replaced with lead as he struggled forward even further. He could faintly feel Ultimecia sounding panicked as she called for him, but chose to follow his instinct to his core.

When he reached the altar, he almost fell over in surprise at what had changed. The small, multicolored gem had… grown. It had become a large, human-sized prism, full of different facets of colors. The ethereal, haunting song continued to play even louder here, and he felt a distinct barrier around the prism. His instinct yelled at him to break it, to unlock something within him, and he complied. He pressed the full force of his mind against the power of the barrier, causing the air to shimmer and blind him with a flash of light, before a sound of shattering glass was heard.

Blinking away the multicolored spots in his vision within his mind, Naruto felt… lighter. Almost impossibly lighter, after all the resistance was felt trying to get here. Ultimecia's cries of despair had gone silent as he strode purposefully towards the crystal, his instinct once again guiding him.

The teen continued to move closer until he was almost pressing up against the prism. He gazed rather detachedly at his warped reflection within the crystal, before raising a hand to touch one of the facets. His mind skidded to a slamming halt when his hand slipped _into _the prism, instead of tapping the surface. The feeling he was getting from his core as it surrounded his hand was… interesting. He felt more power at his fingertips than he had even when he launched his largest barrage of spells at the WEAPON… He pressed a second hand into the prism, before a vision blinded him.

He saw Ultimecia, her Sorceress powers growing even stronger than her human form as she twisted and transformed into a grotesque figure. He was appalled at the sight, unable to even see her face beneath the golden glow, before he spotted her entirely human form suspended upside-down beneath the flowing… gown… the figure had. He saw his kaasan fight with all her power against the WEAPON, controlling the… figure's… movements with her mind. He watched through the vision as Jenova used cellular manipulation to put her on the same fighting level as the WEAPON, and fought with a huge Masamune, together with the transformed Ultimecia.

The vision faded, but the knowledge stayed with him as he pushed further into the crystal. The Sorceress' body soon melted completely into the prism, and his consciousness was bombarded with images and visions. Memories of Rinoa, Adel, Ultimecia, and Edea bombarded his mind, seeing their lives through their eyes. Their memories were frozen within the power of his magical core, held there by their own individual powers that he had gained from Ultimecia.

His face twisted into a mask of agony as he tried to sort through the images flashing through his mind, his consciousness being battered by too many things at once. A searing pain was lancing through his head as his identity started to slip away from him, disappearing within the stream of memories.

Was he really Naruto? Or was he Adel? Edea? Rinoa? Ultimecia? Who was he? What were his goals in life?

He saw himself as Adel, ruling over Esthar with an iron fist. A truly misunderstood Sorceress, her formerly good intentions of creating a nation where Sorceresses weren't despised were broken when she never received a Knight. Her mind was unable to control her emotions, and her power flared, twisting her good intentions of creating a country where all were equal, into ruling the country with tyranny. He felt every sensation, every stab of loneliness and sorrow as he lived through Adel's life, up until the Junctioning of Rinoa, as well as her death at the hands of SeeD.

He saw through the eyes of Rinoa as she lived a sheltered life. He experienced the joys of caring for Angelo, as well as the pains of missing her mother. He lived through the Timber Mission, learning to respect this 'Squall' person, though he hated him for the pain he felt as Adel. He watched as he fought against Edea, hating her for almost killing Squall… who he hated? Loved? His mind was in pain trying to figure out what he was. He felt the searing agony of having Adel's power choose her as the next host, and then again when Edea gave up her power. He felt righteous fury against Ultimecia for possessing him, as well as causing Squall harm. This then clashed with his own memories of Ultimecia, causing another boiling spike of pain to go through his head as he tried to sift through it. He felt the eternal embrace of death as he was absorbed into the Time Compression, his powers from Adel and Edea combining into Ultimecia.

He lived through Edea's life next, being born a Sorceress. He loathed himself for his power, never wanting it in the first place. He felt the sorrow and anger directed towards himself whenever his power would flare. He gave a content smile as he found his Knight in Cid, and raised children in an Orphanage. His mind gave a feeling of warmth whenever someone referred to him as 'Matron', and gave a startled cry as Ultimecia appeared in front of him, giving him her powers so that she could possess him at a later date. His mind started to feel like it was ripped in two as he felt Edea being possessed against her will, wanting to cry out as she harmed one of her own children that she raised in the Orphanage. His life as Edea ended once he gave up his powers to Rinoa.

He then lived through the lifetime of Ultimecia, hated from a young age for being a damned Sorceress. He felt the same hatred and loneliness that he used to at a young age when he was a Jinchuuriki, and his heart frosted over to protect itself from the outside world. He felt genuinely happy when she found her Knight, hoping that now everything would be okay that she would be stable with her power. He felt unbearable hatred for the SeeDs, clashing with his views of Edea who had started the organization, and causing him to nearly double over in pain again. He watched as he possessed himself in Edea, before doing the same to Rinoa and Adel. He felt a disturbing sense of déjà vu as he experienced a large portion of Edea's life all over again, as well as snippets of Adel's and Rinoa's. He felt a terrible pain as he forced Edea to attack Squall, feeling Edea's own emotional pain for what she did while still possessing her. His mind clashed with four different views of Squall, as a son, as a lover, as someone who hurt him, and as someone who tried to kill him. He was barely able to sort through all the pain the memories caused, as well as the pain Ultimecia went through in her life by the time she cast Time Compression. He felt the same pain she did when she was pulled out of the spell, and watched in horrified fascination as he rode on top of the Kyuubi, speaking snippets of conversation with Jenova as they both tried to not fall off the behemoth fox. He saw through a monitor the first few years of his life, clashing with his own memories this time. His viewpoint finally ended when she bestowed a small portion of her power into him, causing him to slip into blissful unconsciousness within the prism as the memories finally stopped.

An intense pressure on his mind brought him out of his unconsciousness as his magical core tried to break into his own mind, to control him from the inside out.

'_Why do you fight it?'_

The voice of his core spoke within his mind as it continued to hunt for cracks within his mental barriers, wanting to slip in and take over. The voice was completely paradoxical within itself. It was loud yet whispered, rough yet smooth, calm yet emotional. It came from everywhere, yet nowhere, and further still from one place in particular. He gave up trying to figure out how it was able to do so, and focused more on preventing his body becoming a puppet for his own power.

'_I fight it… so that I may protect…'_

'_Protect?' _He could've sworn his core laughed at him. _'Protect who? Your power is meant to destroy. How can you possibly protect with it? Who would want you to protect them? You're just a monster. A demon. A Sorceress.'_

'_I have… many people to protect… and I will do so… I will not let you turn me into a puppet!'_

The voice gave him yet another chilling laugh, playing at his weaknesses to try to produce a fracture within his defenses.

'_Who would possibly want a demon to protect them? They're afraid of you. Afraid of your power. They plot behind your back to have you eliminated, so that they are once again in power. The villagers only want to control you. Haku and Zabuza are too afraid of your power to deny you. Tsunade only wants your power to see her loved ones. Kakashi is only helpful because of who your father is.'_

The Sorceress could feel cracks opening in his guard, and pushed more force against the unforgiving pressure of his core. His resolve started to slowly weaken under the barrage of accusations, punctuated with different flashes of memory.

He was about to give in when one memory in particular flashed through his mind.

* * *

_Flashback…_

_He felt power flowing through him. Incredible power of the Lifestream as he continued to pray. His mind was bent on this task, this one task alone, so that he may prevent WEAPON from destroying the planet. He knew that he would have to fight the monstrosity as Jenova and Ultimecia couldn't hold it back forever. He concentrated harder on the task at hand, too swept up in praying to notice someone kneeling behind him._

_  
He nearly jumped in surprise as the person wrapped both arms around him in a warm embrace, and a familiar gruff voice spoke into his hair next to his ear._

"_Whether or not you want me to leave, I will stay by your side. However, I do know I will be no match for what is coming, so I will move out of the way then so that you don't have to worry about my safety. I believe in you, Naruto, and I know you will win."_

_A surge of emotion went through him, nearly breaking his concentration as a single tear dripped out of his eye._

* * *

_End Flashback…_

His body burned with this new resolve, as his mind continued to try to figure out who he was. He fell silent, ignoring the core's seductive whispers to just give in as he continued to contemplate who he was.

He had felt the sweet embrace of death two times, and had lived five lives. He died as Adel to give power to Rinoa, and died as Rinoa to give both Edea and Adel's powers to Ultimecia in Time Compression. He knew Edea was dead in the Time Compression, so that meant he either had to be Ultimecia or Naruto…

The two clashing sets of memories sent him into yet another silent scream of agony as emotions clashed from two viewpoints. His mind subconsciously reached out to Zabuza along the mental link, pleading with him for help.

* * *

With Zabuza…

Zabuza was currently on top of the Hokage Mountain with Tsunade, Shizune, Itachi, Kisame, and Jiraiya when he heard the faint voice of Naruto calling for him through his mind. He sat up ramrod straight, eyes wide with fear at the pain in the call as he focused on it to try and help him.

Tsunade noticed his immediate change in posture and raised an eyebrow, fearful of the worst.

"What's wrong? Is Naruto losing?"

Zabuza tried to concentrate harder, and his breath hitched as he realized what was wrong.

"Naruto's… fighting against his own power. He delved too deeply, and now the Sorceress Power is trying to control him… He was bombarded with the memories of all the Sorceresses he gained power from, and his mind is almost split in two because he can't figure out if he's Naruto or Ultimecia."

Tsunade was completely shocked at this, and nearly yelled at him.

"What?! How do we help him?!"

The Kiri-nin just shook his head ruefully as he settled into the Lotus position and began to meditate. His voice was barely a murmur as he sent his consciousness along the mental link.

"You can't. I can."

His body slumped to the ground as his consciousness left him to follow the link into Naruto's magical core…

* * *

Inside Naruto's mind…

Naruto continued to fend off the advances of the prism, still trapped within as he sorted through the different memories trying to figure out which one he was. Each different memory he worked through had two viewpoints, though, and it was incredibly painful to see something from two places at once. His mind couldn't keep up with it, and progress was painfully slow. An intruder to his mind brought him out of his trance, his mind still protected, if barely, against the intrusions of his power.

Zabuza was shocked at the beauty of the forest around him, but had no time to look around in wonder, as a spike of agony let him know that the Sorceress was still in pain. He dashed through the Sleeping Forest, coming quickly across the altar at the center of Naruto's magical core, and blinked in surprise. He hopped up the stepping stones, and landed softly on the altar itself. He saw a multi faceted prism, about the size of a human, in the middle of an altar, but there was something… inside it?

He peered closer, and saw the telltale white-silver hair of his Sorceress trapped inside the prism, and was shocked. He reached out with a tentative hand and pressed it against one of the light blue facets of the prism, and felt the comforting embrace of winter as his arm slid through the solid prism to lay a gentle hand on Naruto's shoulder. As soon as he made physical contact with Naruto, he felt the intense pain and mental pressure the Sorceress was going through, and steeled his own mind as he tried to break through to Naruto.

He was unable to speak verbally, and tried to push his thoughts towards Naruto.

The Sorceress in question was still sorting through as many memories as he could when a single, stray thought made its way through his mind.

'_Can you hear me…?'_

Paranoid of another intruder in his mind, he tried to block it out but found that it had already formed a link with him. Sensing it wasn't the power trying to leak in, he responded tentatively.

'_Who are you…? Who am I…?'_

The Knight was stunned by the pure amount of confusion and fear leaking through the mental link, and steeled himself to bring the Sorceress back to reality.

'_I am Zabuza… your Knight. You are Naruto. Don't let your power control you, Naruto. WEAPON is still alive, and Aeris isn't finished with the prayer yet.'_

The ex-Kiri-nin was violently ejected from his Sorceress' mind after that, slamming forcefully back into his body and throwing it a few feet back. The prism had repulsed him after it sensed that the man was helping the Sorceress remember who it was, but the damage was already done. It tried harder than ever to break through the mental defenses, but was swiftly pushed back as the Sorceress regained confidence in himself.

'_I am…Naruto…? That's right… Zabuza is my Knight… he's not afraid of me… he loves me… I won't let you make me into a puppet! I will protect everyone, and I do not care if they want me to or not!'_

The Sorceress slammed his mind violently against the pressure against it, feeling something crack. He did it again, and felt the pressure finally dissipate, and the faint voice of the core reaching him before it was silenced forever.

'_Congratulations… on unlocking… the fourth transformation…you're the only one… aside from Ultimecia… to do so… Farewell…'_

A surge of magical energy threw him out of his mind, and back to the battle at hand. Passing through his soul, it combined with the power of the Ancients, as well as Jenova's cellular manipulation, to make his transformation unique to him and him alone.

* * *

In reality…

Naruto had been laying there for about a minute as WEAPON tried to recharge enough to be able to move. It had just started to stir as he woke up, still too weak to move until the surge of magic hit him like a freight train. He was bodily lifted up into the air as his body started the final transformation.

His cells moved instinctually, pushed along their way by the memory of how Jenova had fought as well as the surge of power from the final transformation unlocking.

His cells replicated almost as fast as Jenova had done, his body completely reforming itself as he shot upwards in height to match WEAPON. His body seemed to fight against itself, wanting to transform into a grotesque figure like Ultimecia, also wanting to retain humanoid features like Jenova, or create an Avatar of the Planet like the Ancient part of his soul dictated. They finally reached a compromise, and his body sped up in return.

It took about twelve seconds for his body to fully reform, and it stunned onlookers from both inside his mind as well as those who could view him from a distance. Instead of the grotesque figure that Ultimecia had with her human form suspended from it, it was a fully humanoid shape.

It was about as tall as the WEAPON, but, like Jenova, it lacked nose, ears, mouth, clothing, fingernails or genetalia. It kept the clawed toenails, though. His fingers were changed into the same wicked set of claws Ultimecia had when she had her transformation. His white-silver hair had even longer brown-green fusion tips, and spilled down his back to his waist. Strangely enough, leaves could be found among the strands of hair, and a slight shower of them continuously fell from his mane of hair, each leaf shimmering bit with the power of the earth. Six wings emerged from his back, taking on wicked, spiky formations created out of what looked to be warped black wood, branching out in different directions. Where his eyes would be was a band of blue-green light, glowing and pulsating in time with the Planet itself. His skin decided on an oddly pale color, with slight tinges of blue thrown in.

His telepathic voice boomed across the planet, stunning most of the population as a wave of tranquility followed in its wake.

"I am Naruto, the heir to both Ultimecia and Jenova. They may have failed in halting you, WEAPON, but I will not. You may not perish by my hand, but I will prevent you from stopping Holy."

The Sorceress charged forward at blinding speeds, slicing through the armor of the WEAPON with a slash of his claws. The black entity howled in pain, as the wounds caused by the strike frosted over before shattering. Several meteors fell from the sky to impact upon it as Naruto continued his dance of death, clawing and kicking viciously at any exposed surface as the elements themselves responded instinctually to his commands.

Huge pillars of stone emerged from the ground before exploding into high speed spears of earth to dive bomb the wounded WEAPON, stabbing deeply into exposed flesh before shattering into splinters. The ground froze over, tendrils of ice growing up the four legs supporting the black behemoth as the sky rained down frozen needles. Bolts of lightning mixed with blasts of fire, becoming a mess of crackling static and roaring flame as they buffeted the monster. Green sparkles of light floated all around, waiting for their chance to shine, before exploding into a heavy green mist. They combusted into waves of searing power, shredding at any exposed areas and devastating the landscape as the Sorceress continued his unrelenting assault.

The WEAPON was, admittedly, putting up a great fight. The regeneration of the beast was astounding, as wounds were healed over almost as soon as Naruto finished creating them. The pain, though, was everlasting. The wound may no longer be lethal, but the pain from the action inflicting it continued to stab at the mind of the WEAPON, forcing it further and further into a berserk fury.

* * *

Back with Zabuza and co…

Zabuza, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shizune, Itachi, and Kisame all looked to the west, where they saw two giant figures attacking each other. They were all almost falling to their knees from the power emanating from the two combatants, the only one spared being Zabuza. The Knight was well attuned to the Sorceress' power, and was able to resist it. The pure malicious aura emanating from the WEAPON itself, however, was making it harder to breathe.

Zabuza gave out a chuckle as he stole the telescope normally used for peeping from Jiraiya, and used it to take a closer look at Naruto.

The other five looked towards him as if he was insane, before realizing he was looking at something in the distance that they couldn't really make out. Tsunade decided to speak for the group and ask.

"What are you laughing about?"

Zabuza fiddled with a few things on the telescope to bring the image into further clarity before handing it to Tsunade, gesturing with his hands for her to look. When her jaw dropped, he decided he would comment for the rest.

"After I went unconscious, I helped Naruto to… find himself I suppose you could say. Take a look."

They each took turns looking through the telescope, each one's jaw dropping in turn at the changes to him. Itachi was the best off, even though he used the Sharingan to get it in much better detail. He was unable to prevent himself from asking the question on everyone's minds, though.

"What the _fuck_ is that?"

Ultimecia and Jenova materialized next to them, both looking like they needed some serious sleep. The six grouped there jumped a little at their appearance, and Tsunade ran a diagnostic jutsu over both of them to make sure they were okay.

"You both just need rest. Now what the hell is up with that thing that looks like Naruto?"

Ultimecia's purple lips broke out into a proud grin, absolutely beaming at her son's accomplishment while Jenova's own dark blue lips quirked into a smirk as she busted out into chuckles, both of them laying there unable to move much. Ultimecia was the one to break the silence.

"He instinctually found the fourth transformation. I didn't tell him it was there, because of what happens when you go through it. You have to relive the lives of each and every one of the Sorceresses whose powers you hold, and then you have to regain your identity and fight off the Sorceress Power to be able to achieve it. It's incredibly stressful, due to the fact that you live possibly hundreds of years in an instant, feel their pain, feel their emotions, and in his case, he had to look at one person from four different viewpoints, each with different emotions tied to that one person. He lived through the lives of an Orphanage matron, who raised the boy, a tyrannical ruler, who fought him and died to him, a young woman's life, who was the boy's lover and he was her knight, and finally through my own life where I killed him.

Can you imagine, having to have four completely different reactions to the same person whenever you saw them in your memories? He was almost lost in between two possibilities of his identity when Zabuza came in and helped him. What you're seeing over there is the physical manifestation of his power and soul; however, it's completely different from my own. Since he has the powers of an Ancient, it tried to turn him into an Avatar of the Planet. The power also tried to replicate the effects of when Jenova, here, was fighting WEAPON, as he saw it in a flash when it showed my fourth transformation. His body decided to go for a compromise, and this is what you're seeing."

They all looked through the telescope again, and blinked rapidly as they tried to ascertain all the changes. Jenova spoke next as they both tried to take a nap, seeing as how Naruto's mind was quite chaotic at the moment since he was in the middle of a large fight.

"He only needs to continue fighting for about another hour. Can you feel it? Holy is almost ready."

* * *

Back with Naruto…

A large comet fell from the sky, impacting onto the WEAPON as Naruto blocked a crippling strike from the beast's tail, his bones in his forearms groaning in protest to the action. He quickly disengaged and hopped backwards to avoid a raking of the behemoth's claws, slicing his own hand horizontally in front of him. The earth groaned at this action, before a thick trench opened up in front of the WEAPON and launched several hundred boulders towards it.

Naruto could hear the Lifestream clearly by now, and it was starting to interfere with his concentration. The souls were calling out to him, wanting to help, but the voices were starting to hurt. A few kept asking questions to why they were being called and he clutched his head in pain from the overwhelming feeling of the souls of the dead all talking at once. His telepathy broadcast a wail of pain and despair unintentionally as he tried hard to ignore the souls and pay attention to the fight. His magic lashed out instinctively to try to fight for him while his consciousness was occupied, launching several volleys of earth and ice spears towards the WEAPON.

The WEAPON was actually momentarily stunned by the telepathic wail, and was unable to raise its guard to protect against the volley of magical projectiles, taking them deeply into the torso before they were forcefully ejected by regeneration. Taking advantage of the Sorceress' weakness, the chest cannon exploded into blue energy as it launched another beam, this one aimed towards Konoha and where Aeris was praying.

* * *

With Zabuza and co…

All six buckled under the telepathic broadcast from the Sorceress, clutching their heads in pain from the emotions washing over them from the one call. Zabuza struggled to one knee, trying to figure out what happened. He felt intense mental pain from Naruto, and tried to tap into the mental link to find out what went wrong, and was buffeted by the same cacophony of voices from the Lifestream. He quickly pulled back, and started to jump down the rocks towards Aeris and the memorial stone.

He reached the bottom of the Hokage Monument, and started to sprint across rooftops and treetops towards the stone, still getting lances of mental agony through the mental link as he continued forward doggedly. He was nearly limping across the ground by the time he reached the spirit of the Ancient, and was only able to choke out a 'Naruto… souls… causing… pain…' before he collapsed to his knees, holding his head.

The Ancient looked up from her praying, startled at the declaration before she focused a little on the souls that were rushing towards the surface and was caught within the same surge of voices. She quickly shut down that link and continued to pray, needing only another twenty minutes before she was done. She had never felt the Lifestream so… enthusiastic before, and she hoped Naruto would be okay until it was over as she was unable to silence the souls.

She felt a massive gathering of energy heading towards her and looked up to see a beam of blue heading on a direct course for her and the village. She stared at it for less than a moment before going back to praying. She died once for this spell, and there was nothing that would break her concentration to cast it a second time. Absolutely nothing.

* * *

With Naruto…

He felt the surge of energy being dispatched, and was able to concentrate enough to open his eyes to see the beam headed towards the village. His power flared in fear and anger, instinctively teleporting in the way of the beam. He stared at the beam as it hurtled towards him, and raised both hands, the prismatic **Wall **melting out of thin air in front of him. He pressed more energy than ever before into the spell, causing the barrier to actually glow with power, shining different colors across the entire village as he pushed it to the maximum in preparation for the blow.

The beam slammed into the prismatic barrier, pushing hard against it as it tried to pierce any weak spot and overcome the obstacle. The barrier started to crack for a moment before Naruto physically slammed the palms of his clawed hands into the back of the barrier, pushing it forward as he pressed more magic into the defense than should ever be poured into the spell. His shoulders shook as he pressed against the cobalt energy, his feet sliding backwards through the ground as he pushed harder than ever. His power flared again as he pushed back against it, splintering the beam to separate into tens of thousands of tiny tendrils that barely scarred the earth around him as he pushed forward against the power.

For almost a minute he pushed against it as the WEAPON kept the beam going, draining its energy as it tried to overcome the defense of the Sorceress, before it finally cut the power before it was too late. Naruto stumbled a bit at the lack of pressure against the barrier, letting it drop as he pushed the advantage, charging against the behemoth. As he sprinted along the gouge in the earth caused by the beam, several chunks of earth shaped themselves into spears, hovering around him as thick icicles rained from the skies. As soon as he swung his first slash at the momentarily stunned WEAPON, the earth spears rushed forwards, impaling into what could be taken as joints in the armor, displacing and cracking them to expose more flesh.

The souls quieted down, causing Naruto to jump away in shock as he tried to figure out if something was wrong. He felt a massive surge of energy coming from below the ground and looked back towards the memorial stone. A bright green-white light was pulsating from the general area, making him feel at ease. He prepared his final spell to stun the WEAPON long enough for Holy to finish, pouring all his remaining power within it.

His six warped, black wings started to glow and emanate an unearthly hum. He stretched both arms out, his clawed fingertips spread wide as he began to concentrate. His long strands of white-silver hair, tipped with the strange brown-green fusion began to lift from his back and spread out behind him in the air. Thick, black clouds began to form in the sky, the ground rumbling and cracking as a single word echoed around the minds of all those nearby.

"**Forbidden Magic: Kjata**."

The clouds exploded into showers of red lightning, ripping up the ground and electrocuting the WEAPON, before they exploded, tearing up the earth around them. Before the earth had even settled, huge shards of ice coalesced within the air before imploding, centered on the middle of the WEAPON, impaling it from all directions before shattering into little slivers. The sound of shattering ice hadn't even dissipated into the air before several hundred balls of fire collapsed onto the WEAPON's torso, exploding into a wave of heat that scorched the trees around the area. The earth started to groan and crack as the heat dissipated, before huge chunks of the earth exploded outwards from underneath the behemoth, shattering against the armor and bruised flesh of the WEAPON before molding into a few thousand earth spears, slamming into the wounds caused by the previous effects, causing more pain and deeper wounds.

The WEAPON roared in agony, its healing factor pushed to the limit to regenerate all the damage caused by the massive attack. Naruto slumped to the ground, exhausted after the spell, barely holding himself up as he shrunk rapidly back to his normal size. A soft, ethereal, feminine voice cut into everyone's minds over the planet, carried upon a wave of calm that soothed everyone's fears. She spoke but one word, but in that one word was held so much power.

"**Holy**."

The skies around the world exploded into a blinding white as the spell took hold, eradicating all threats to the Planet.

* * *

Author's note: Final chapter, the next chapter is simply the epilogue. I may or may not write a sequel.


	11. Epilogue

Author's Note: Thank you all for reading my story, and I hope you all enjoyed it. This is the Epilogue, though I'm not sure if I should write a sequel or not.

Reviews!

**NaruxHinata-Rules**: Here's the update! Final update, unfortunately.

**Love Psycho**: Sorry, no lemon. I mulled it over in my head a lot, and tried it once or twice, but I can't write one to save my life unfortunately. I'm really sorry.

**griffin blackwood**: How would that happen? Mpreg...? Ew... No offense to the ladies out there, but pregnancy stays on their side of the gender line.

**Unyu**: Eh, he's not really goody-goody, but he prefers to protect people. I'm glad you liked my fics, though!

**moonlit dew**: Of course there will be more stories! I just need to get inspired to write them! However, I still need to finish my other fic before I start allowing plot bunnies to invade. Writing two fics at once makes my head hurt. You are one of my favorite reviewers, though, as you actually have input on the story itself instead of 'no yaoi' or 'update plox' that I get every now and then.

**shad0wfr0st**: It's complete now.

**Carcas**: I'll think about the sequel... as you can see in the epilogue, there's a big hint at what the sequel would be.

Enjoy the final chapter!

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"**Spell/Jutsu"**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, FF8, FF7, or any of their characters.

* * *

Epilogue

Recovering from the worldwide event of Holy took time, for some more than others. Immediately following the awakening of Naruto, who would be put down in the history books as one of the "Divine Three" who took on WEAPON, Zabuza took him from the hospital, and neither were seen for three days. However, not even a silencing technique could have quieted the sounds coming from their apartment…

On an unrelated note, immediately following their reemergence to society, both Jenova and Ultimecia made it big inspiring Tsunade to write at least another dozen Icha Icha Yaoi Paradise books. They never did say where they got their material…

The Sorceress and his Knight both assisted in the reconstruction of multiple small villages that were completely obliterated, as they were in the direct path of the rampaging WEAPON. Both used their proficiencies to speed up the process, Zabuza using **Mizu Bunshin (Water Clone) **along with his zanbato to fell hundreds of trees for wood, and Naruto manipulating the earth into temporary homes for workers and citizens.

Tsunade became the Godaime Hokage, and immediately delivered multiple skullcrushing haymakers to annoying Council members, effectively destroying (literally) the civilian side of the Council. When questioned on her… unorthodox… actions, she gave the questioner a heated glare and a response of 'civilians should have no say in the shinobi affairs of a shinobi village. They grew too fat on their ill-gotten gains.' As soon as she was able to dispatch them, she immediately put forth a suggestion to have one medically trained ninja assigned to each three-man Genin team, effectively making them all five-man squads, and drastically cutting the casualty rate.

Haku was dispatched to Team 8, and helped in their team training. He found a fellow medically-inclined shinobi in Hinata, and a friendship was immediately created. They both found that their interests were quite similar; Hinata loved flower-pressing, and Haku loved to gather flowers and medicinal herbs. Team 8 (and Naruto) all were promoted to Chuunin in the exams held six months after the Sandaime's death; Team 8 showing exemplary teamwork, caring for their comrades, as well as strategic planning and intuitive thinking. Naruto… simply walked into the room, and was immediately promoted due to his previous acts.

Pein (aka Nagato) the leader of Akatsuki was immolated by the benevolent light of Holy, however, all of Akatsuki were spared aside from him. After the reconstruction of the villages within WEAPON's warpath, Itachi and Kisame, as well as Naruto and Zabuza, went out to find the comatose bodies of the rest of Akatsuki. They were, after all, defenseless when in a coma, aside from Hidan due to his immortality. They found two members in a rather odd place, and in even odder positions.

* * *

Border of the land of Rock and the land of Wind…

Deidara and Sasori were found in the same house, which was decorated… uniquely. Exactly half of the house was covered with puppets and puppet parts, and the other half was filled with schematics and formulae for newer, better clay and theories on how to create more lifelike clay replicas. They found both the 'artists' in a rather… intimate position in the one bedroom of the house. Who knew that Sasori liked to cuddle in his comatose-sleep, despite the fact that he had a puppet body, or that Deidara was a clingy sleeper, latching onto the nearest thing and squeezing the life out of it?

The two were… noticeably surprised when they were awoken with quick jolts of healing magic to the temples, though Naruto had to deliver Sasori's to his human heart.

Deidara flicked a golden lock of hair out of his one blue eye, rubbing it with a clenched fist to brush away the remainders of a comatose slumber. He stifled a yawn with one hand, the mouths closed and nearly invisible when not in battle. As soon as his ninja instincts restarted (exactly 10.89 seconds after waking up), he noticed that there were three large chakra signatures in the room with both him and Sasori. Two felt familiar, the third felt… weird… and he knew there was a fourth person there, but couldn't feel _any _chakra in them. His eye snapped open, the scope over his other eye whirring to life as he fed it a little chakra, the mechanism locking onto the people in the room. His voice was hoarse from almost two weeks of disuse, his chakra being depleted from keeping his body healthy during the coma.

"Who are you, and what do you want?"

Itachi's lips quirked upwards in a smirk, while Kisame broke down laughing. Zabuza was smiling deviantly, and Naruto looked… bored. He heaved a slight sigh, before turning his mismatched gaze towards Deidara, as Sasori was still reconnecting all the chakra strings in his body so he could move.

"We are here because, due to your leader's idiocy, all of Akatsuki sans Itachi and Kisame were thrown into a deep coma. I pulled you both out of it, and we still need to see the other… five? Six? I can't remember. There are you, Sasori, Itachi, Kisame all awake, Nagato got fried by Holy, and there were only nine of you left. We still need to find Zetsu, Tobi, Konan the paper lady, and the immortal duo. The immortals can be left for the last two, as they won't die. The other three need to be awakened quickly before they die due to chakra exhaustion from their bodies devouring their own chakra to survive the coma."

The clay-nin blinked rapidly as he took in the information, before turning to Sasori who had finally connected all of his strings and was staring apathetically towards the four intruders.

"Hey, Sasori-danna, do you believe them? Normally, I'd be blowing them up… but I have no chakra to create my art, un."

The puppet master turned towards the blonde, seeming to be deep in thought before nodding. His voice was unemotional as ever, though there was a hint of weariness in it.

"I suppose they must be. I remember seeing that eye open in the ground, and then everything went black… and here we are. I suppose since the world hasn't been destroyed that the monster was defeated?"

The Sorceress gave a slight laugh, raising one clawed hand to wave a little sheepishly towards the artists.

"That would be partially my fault. Momochi Naruto, former Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, though the fox has been dead for the past fifteen years. I had to pray to the planet for Holy, the ultimate defensive magic, to be cast. The spell obliterated all threats to the planet itself, including the monster as well as your leader. Most of the planet was left unscathed, though."

Deidara started to gape like a fish, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to comprehend how a teenager could, in a nutshell, save the world.

Said teen was tapping his foot impatiently while Kisame, Itachi, and Sasori were all speaking on what to do now that Akatsuki was basically disbanded. The silver-white haired young man finally gave up and released his power, searching the entire planet for signs of the rest of the Akatsuki. Kisame, Itachi, Sasori, and Deidara fell to the floor, unable to even move besides breathing from the unearthly amount of power flowing carelessly off the Sorceress, while Zabuza was smirking at all of them victoriously. After almost a minute of paralysis, the pressure lifted as the teen disappeared into the floor.

Naruto reappeared only a few minutes later, though he had quite a bit more… baggage. He had manipulated the cells in his fingers to wrap around his luggage, and it made for quite a sight. Zetsu, Tobi, Konan, Hidan and Kakuzu were wrapped in one finger each, all of them comatose.

Deidara and even Sasori were stunned at the power the boy was showing; not only was he able to pick up all five other living members one handed, but he could stretch his limbs to do it?

Naruto, able to feel the confusion and awe coming from the two, simply gave them a slight glance as he went about his task, mumbling loud enough for all the people in the room to hear.

"What? You think one of the three who fought with the WEAPON wouldn't be able to pick up five humans? Pfft."

The Sorceress set the five bodies down, his fingers shrinking back to their normal size. He spread both palms out and waves of white energy flowed down each finger, condensing in front of him into a ball the size of a human head. The ball extended five tendrils of the white energy, each one stabbing into the forehead of one of the comatose nins. Each one's body gave a startled jerk as they were forcefully awakened, the ball as well as the tendrils of energy dissipating into the air as the five started to stir.

Konan was the first to awaken fully. She brushed a lock of dark blue hair out of her eyes almost instinctually, cracking open one cobalt eye to view her surroundings. She flipped upwards, landing on her feet in a ready stance, before her mind caught up with her and she swayed dangerously from the odd sense of vertigo she suffered from switching from a supine position that she had kept for weeks from the coma, to a full standing position. She was able to steady herself, and quickly gained her normal composure. The woman absentmindedly fiddled with her hands, creating an ornate rose out of paper, her bloodline limit, and placed it over her right ear. After surveying the room with a calculating gaze, she rested her eyes on Zabuza and Naruto. Her soft voice broke the silence.

"Who are you two, and why are we all here?"

Deidara and Sasori, who had finally broken out of their shock over what the Sorceress had just done, were about to speak up when Naruto cut them off.

"Your organization was all comatose from your mental projections being obliterated by the monster you resurrected. Please wait until your other four members awaken, and I will explain it in full. If you try to attack myself or him," he pointed a clawed finger at Zabuza at this point. "you will be immobilized in the most non-lethal way I can think of at the moment. You are too weak to do anything at the moment, as your body has been feeding off your chakra to stay alive. It has been almost two weeks since you all fell into the coma."

Zabuza snickered a little at this as the woman stayed tense, before seating herself in a nearby chair. Her adrenaline rush left her, and her body ached heavily from working on empty. Her chakra was barely there, and she realized they really were screwed if they tried anything now. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, she relaxed in the chair, deciding to speak with the two 'artists' as Naruto disappeared into the floor, aiming to get a bit of food and drink for the seven newly-awakened members of Akatsuki.

"How was he able to find all of us and get us here, not to mention bring seven members out of a coma? What happened to the thing we revived?"

Deidara was the one who answered, as Sasori was too deep in thought about what they were going to do without an organization.

"That kid woke Sasori-danna and I up, and explained it to us in a rush, un. He seemed to release a chunk of his power at once, and did this weird thing where he sunk into the floor almost like Zetsu-san. He came back only a few minutes later, and all five of you were being held in his fingers, which he had somehow stretched to great lengths to carry you, un."

The paper manipulating kunoichi blinked rapidly at this news, her mind trying to process the information that A) some kid could move extreme distance in minor amounts of time, B) said kid might have a bloodline limit for… stretchiness…? And C) the kid was obviously powerful.

By this time, Kakuzu and Hidan had awakened. The first words out of Kakuzu's mouth were 'what the hell hit me, and does it have a bounty on it?' while the albino immortal's words were a bit more colorful…

"What the fucking hell happened?"

Zetsu and Tobi were the next to awaken, both staying… oddly silent as they surveyed the area to take in the other members, sans Pein.

Naruto reappeared through the wall, carrying a large amount of fruits, vegetables, and a little bit of meat. He gave a patented Sorceress Deathglare at thin air for a moment, before a large table appeared from the kitchen into the bedroom via a rip into the fabric of space.

He set all the food down on the table, pulling eleven chairs out of the same rip before closing it, and setting them all around the table. Deciding that something was definitely missing, he stretched a thin tendril of his power into the air, creating four pitchers of water, the pitcher itself made out of glass-like ice. It was cold enough to chill the water, but not cold enough to cause more than minor discomfort to those who touched it. He simply pointed a clawed finger towards the food and said 'Eat. You all need it, aside from Kakuzu and Hidan, I suppose.'

The Sorceress seemed to be deep in thought about something, before pointedly staring at Tobi who was not eating, and hadn't removed his odd… swirly orange mask.

"Madara-san… why do you inhabit the body of another? You remind me a bit too much of Orochi-pedo."

The first Uchiha, currently inhabiting the body of Uchiha Obito, was stunned. Nobody had noticed who he was before then, because Tobi was a 'good boy', and was too stupid to do anything like that! He wouldn't be able to fight back if the strange person proved hostile, so he decided he might as well tell the truth and hopefully get away with his life.

"I was the one to create the Immortality technique that Orochimaru uses. I inhabit this body because the original owner died in a rockslide, and I had Zetsu revive it so that I could use it. At least I don't destroy the souls that inhabit their body, unlike Orochimaru."

The white-silver haired young man snickered loudly at this, causing all of Akatsuki to stare in shock at him. The teen shifted a little, pulling the sleeve up on his left arm as a thick tentacle of…what was that? emerged from his arm, twisting into a ball of… something. Within a few moments, the 'ball of something' had become vaguely humanoid in shape, before the features defined themselves.

It was obviously male, if the flat chest were any sign. It had a long mane of spiky black hair that fell to his waist with two thick locks falling to his chest over his face. His right eye was completely covered by the hair, but the left eye had 'Tobi' gasping in shock. It was a Sharingan eye. Not just any Sharingan… the Eternal Sharingan. The body was clothed in odd red battle armor, quite old in design, and had a rope-belt tied around his waist, while the body underneath the armor was clothed in black.

Naruto gave a slight smirk to this, his mismatched gaze revealing nothing in the presence of nine people who wanted to capture him only a few weeks ago. His voice was soft, though a few skilled people could detect a hint of sadness in it which confused them.

"I believe this is what your body looked like? Please use this instead of the body you're currently using. It will last you a lifetime, at least. I'm not sure how my 'interesting' cellular structure will work with you, but I doubt you'll be given the same abilities. If you don't mind, may I take the body you're currently using back to Konoha when I return? I believe it deserves a proper burial."

'Tobi' nodded only slightly, still in awe that the mysterious teenager had just given him a body. His soul ejected itself from the body of 'Tobi', flinging towards the clone made out of Jenova's cells, and merging with it. The body snapped to life as the merging was complete; moving around a little to make sure everything was working. The rest of Akatsuki were quite shocked at the fact that, not only was the first Uchiha under their noses the entire time, but he had taken on a mask, both physical and literal, to prevent them from knowing!

Madara was brought out of his shock as something that the boy said had sparked some recognition in his mind. He turned to address the long haired teen, his voice sounding a little deeper, and a bit smoother, in his regular body.

"You said you were returning to Konoha, correct? Who are you?"

The Sorceress smiled a little at this, raising one hand palm-up in a gesture of peace. Ice crystals swirled above the palm, before materializing into what looked to be the ending of a battlefield. A nine tailed fox, with two passengers that the viewers could see, was barreling towards Konoha before it was stopped by a blonde man holding an equally blonde baby on a giant toad. The words '**Shiki Fuuin (Dead Demon Consuming Seal)**' were clearly heard in the room, before the fox disappeared, the two passengers going with it. Naruto destroyed the ice rendition of the Kyuubi attack, before speaking.

"I am the former Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto. The fox was killed by its two 'passengers' hours after the sealing. Due to the treatment of the villagers, I have forsaken my surname and taken on my Knight's surname. I am now known as Momochi Naruto, Konoha's Tenshi (angel), as well as a Sorceress. I am the adopted son of both Jenova, the Calamity of the Heavens, as well as Ultimecia, the Grand Sorceress."

Zabuza laughed loudly at the stunned silence, slipping behind the Sorceress and wrapping his arms around the younger man, pulling him into a warm embrace.

"Isn't that introduction a little… long?"

Naruto gave a smirk at this, standing on his toes to give the ashen-skinned man a slight kiss on the lips before replying, bringing the room out of its shock.

"I suppose, but at least hundreds of years from now nobody will remember me, and the only things I'll be remembered by will be written in the pages of history books. Then I won't have to do this whole introduction thing, and I'll just be Momochi Naruto."

The Akatsuki, as well as the two Konoha-nins, talked well into the night on plans of what to do now that their leader was gone. When the news was spilled that the leader was indeed dead, none grieved, though Konan had a single tear spilling down her cheek. She had been Nagato's teammate, and though there was no relationship outside of that, it still hurt to watch him spiral into madness before his death. She was glad he was gone, though; his madness was deepening as each day passed, and she was positive he would eventually want to destroy the entire planet instead of enslave it.

Most decided to continue on with their lives, living on the run. They rather liked their freedom, though they did have to promise, on punishment of death, to never follow a 'powerwhore like Pein' again. However, Itachi, Kisame, and Madara were given an odd proposition once the others had left to scatter to the corners of the planet.

Itachi's jaw dropped at the decision made by Naruto, shattering his normal 'cool and aloof' exterior for a moment before he quickly replaced it, almost as if he hadn't just done something un-Itachi-like. Kisame was the first to speak of the three.

"You want us" here he pointed to himself, Itachi and Madara "to come to Konoha with you two?"

Naruto gave a nod, his lips quirking upwards into a warm smile as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Itachi and Kisame never did anything wrong, and since Sasuke left to Orochimaru… there's no Uchiha clan left. We're only staying in Konoha until Haku dies, and then Zabuza and I will be off to care for his reincarnations. We're both truly immortal, much like Hidan, and Madara is immortal as long as he wishes to be due to his technique, as well as my clones. It wouldn't seem right if we stayed in one place forever, as the village would grow too soft underneath our protection."

Itachi was the first to respond with a 'I will go', as he wished to watch over his parents' graves and to fight back against the fan girl menace.

Kisame reluctantly nodded, as he had nobody to go back to in the Mist, and at least Zabuza was in Konoha. The rest of the swordsmen were dead, some from Hunter-nin, some from assassination missions, and Raiga… gave himself a funeral with a lightning bolt.

Madara was the final one to reply, with a hesitant nod. He could spend time with one of his descendants, Itachi, and reconstruct the Uchiha clan to their former glory. The Sharingan was not the centerpiece of the clan. Real Uchihas trained to fight without their eyesight, and used their Sharingan only on enemies.

The Sorceress smirked at their reactions, reaching out to each of them and dragging Itachi, Zabuza, Madara, Kisame, and Tobi's body into the floor with him, to reappear fifteen miles outside Konoha.

* * *

Outside of Konoha, 3:00 pm…

Both Uchihas and the Hoshigaki shuddered heavily as they emerged from the ground, turning as one to stare at Naruto, who was now carrying the corpse of Tobi. Kisame was the one to speak the one question on their minds.

"What the _fuck_ was that?"

The white-silver haired teen gave a broad grin towards the shark-nin, his reply laced with humor.

"It's my way of transportation. It's bad for long distances, as you can tell, seeing as how it's incredibly disorienting… and the feeling of emerging from the substance you pop out of is really weird. I got used to it after awhile, although teleporting through a mirror still gives me the shivers."

Zabuza simply shrugged, as he was also used to it by now. Though he never would get used to the feeling of solid objects sliding across his skin like water… it was kind of weird…

The group of five set off towards Konoha, taking to the trees.

* * *

Konoha gates, 3:05 pm…

The gate guard currently on duty almost had a heart attack when Naruto appeared with a dead body in his arms, and a strange Uchiha standing near him. He quickly sent them towards the Hokage's office, who was expecting him by now. As they left, the Jounin at the gates let out a shuddering breath, as the feeling of power rolling off the strange Uchiha nearly suffocated him.

* * *

Hokage's Office, 3:10 pm…

The door was busted down with an annoyed, yet calm reply of 'I don't care if she's having sex with Jiraiya on her desk, I will see her, and I will not wait for you to check her schedule'. Tsunade looked up from her piles of paperwork, and heaved a scalding glare at the Sorceress, who was… holding a corpse…?

Her first words to Naruto were rather interesting to Madara.

"Do you get PMS?"

The door was reattached to the frame, and securely in place as Naruto placed a silencing spell on the room before giving a patented Sorceress Deathglare to the Hokage, shocking the first Uchiha who hadn't seen a glare of that proportion since that of Pein.

"No, I don't. And if you were younger, Tsunade-obaachan (grandma) you wouldn't need that Genjutsu."

The Legendary Medic-nin tossed a paperweight at the Sorceress for that, who skillfully ducked the projectile which shot right through the wall behind him and created a crater in a neighboring building. Zabuza spoke up next before they all got down to business.

"I'll give you a 4 for the aim, but a 10 for the power."

Madara, Itachi, and Kisame sat down in the chairs in front of her desk, while Naruto chose to stand next to Zabuza, still holding the corpse of Tobi in his arms. When he spoke, the Sannin was hard pressed to not have her jaw drop at the declaration.

"I would like Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame, and Uchiha Madara to be placed under my protection, as well as have them gain citizenship in Konohagakure. Itachi and Kisame actually didn't do anything wrong, and the real version of the Massacre can be backed up by evidence."

The Sannin nodded a little, as she had read the file when Itachi had come to Konoha, and realized the damages to the buildings, as well as the 'I LOVE YOU ITACHI-KUN' burned into the Clan Compound's walls were indicative of fan girl attack. Something that Naruto had said caused her thoughts to halt, though.

"Uchiha Madara? The founder of the Uchiha clan? How is he still alive?"

The Sorceress gave a slight snicker before pointing to the dead body in his arms, then pointing to the silent Madara in the seat.

"He's the one who created the immortality technique that Orochi-pedo uses. However, he actually has morals in using it, and had only used the bodies of the recently deceased instead of destroying the soul in a still living body. I created a body out of my cells for him to use until he wishes to die, and he vacated this body for it. I believe Kakashi will be happy to know that Uchiha Obito's body can finally be buried."

The woman nodded a little bit, before asking her next question.

"Whatever happened to Orochimaru?"

The Sorceress levitated the body in his arms behind him, rubbing his hands together conspiratorially as he cackled maniacally.

"Holy… took care of him and his boy toy…"

Itachi felt a slight pang of guilt at this, though he supposed it was for the best; his brother really was foolish, to sell himself out to the weakest of the Sannin.

The rest of the people in the room snickered a bit at their misfortune to be killed by the Planet itself, though Zabuza had to ask something.

"I thought Holy only eradicated threats to the planet itself?"

Naruto gazed all around the room, trying to look inconspicuous as he shifted from foot to foot, his hands behind his back. Zabuza coughed a bit, saying 'faker' under his breath before he gave up the charade.

"I slightly influenced the spell… only a little… a tiny bit… I had it kill them both because the ass-bow was scaring me. Not even WEAPON scared me, but that purple ass bow…"

Tsunade snickered a little at this before nodding. She signed the papers that would allow Itachi, Kisame, and Madara to be under the protection of Naruto, disallowing the Council from trying anything against them. While the civilian side was abolished, some of the shinobi clan heads were still a bit greedy…

* * *

Konoha prospered underneath the protective wings, both physically and literally, of Naruto. Haku lived to the old age (by shinobi standards) of 60, where he died happily in his slumber, his body having worn itself out from the stress of shinobi life. He and Hinata had two children, a boy and a girl. The boy was named Hikari (light) and the girl Yami (darkness) respectively for their demeanor when they were born. Hikari had come out and seemed to be full of joy, while Yami had somehow inherited the Hyuuga gene for silence and had pulled off a patented Hyuuga Deathglare only seconds after opening her eyes. Both were gifted with the Hyoton and Byakugan bloodlines, and Naruto and Zabuza watched over them until they were old enough to fend for themselves.

The two left Konoha in the dead of night, leaving no trace of ever having lived in their apartment. They left a note for the Shichidaime Hokage, who was none other than Itachi's son Sasuke, named after the uncle that could have been.

_Hokage-sama,_

_As per my agreement with your predecessor, Zabuza and I have left once Momochi Haku, Zabuza's former apprentice, died. We stayed to watch over his children, and now that they are both the age of eighteen, we have left. I have left a ward on the village that will last for a year, and will repel all invasion attempts with a blast of lightning. You have until the next year to bring your defenses back up to proper condition, as I will no longer protect the village. _

_Should you ever need advice, or someone to talk to, push chakra into this letter and we shall appear._

_We both love you like a nephew, and we wish you luck upon your reign as Hokage._

_Sincerely,_

_Momochi Naruto, and Momochi Zabuza_

_Konoha's Tenshi (angel) and Konoha's Oni (demon)_

Madara left with them, perceiving them as the family he had never had. His brother didn't count, as Madara had taken his eyes once his own were blinded from overuse of the Mangekyo Sharingan. Plus his brother was annoying and whiny.

* * *

Thousands of years later, on the beach of Besaid…

Three people were currently walking along the beach, each with a look of reminiscing on their faces. The two on either side of the young woman in the middle seemed to have a bit of sadness etched into their faces, though the woman in the middle just had pure determination.

The woman on the left of the young woman was an older woman about the age of twenty two, and had a slim build with an almost disproportionately large bust. She was about 5'6", and had long, black hair pulled up in a knot with four thin braids falling down her back. Her bangs were parted to one side, completely covering one eye while the exposed eye was a bright red color. Her lipstick was an odd shade of purple to match the rest of her odd appearance. She wore a fur-lined dress with an enormous amount of cleavage being shown with a half dozen necklaces in varying designs around her neck. Her dress had intricate patterns adorning the hemline, as well as the edges of the wide sleeves, though the most interesting part was the front of the dress. It was completely open from the middle of her thighs down to the ground, but was completely covered with a mesh of belts interlocking with each other. The woman carried herself with an air of frost, as if she disliked having people around her normally, though she seemed to have a soft spot for the woman to her right.

The man to the right of the young woman was almost as odd as the woman on the left. He was about 6'2", and had orange hair with a flyaway lock in front that curved directly up. He had a blue headband, and a golden skin tone. His face had a bit of stubble growing on it, and he had a pair of brown eyes. He was quite muscular, and was tossing an odd blue ball in his hands that had dozens of blunted spikes on it. On his left arm was an odd piece of armor, complete with a gauntlet, while his right arm was mostly bare. His clothing consisted of a bright yellow top that had the midriff split vertically, black pants with what looked like a pair of suspender pants over them in another glaring yellow color. To finish it off, he was wearing a pair of sandals.

The young woman in the middle was an oddity as well, though not as much as the two on either side of her. She was about 5'3", and had short brown windblown hair that fell to her shoulders. She had a nice peach color for a skin tone, and her eyes were bi-colored blue and green. She was dressed in what seemed to be very formal attire, with a flowing blue skirt that fell to her mid-shin, a pair of boots, and two flowing sleeves on either arm, tied from just above the elbow to end at her wrist. They were white near the arm, and faded into pink at the edges. The top over her skirt was very intricately done, with two pieces of cloth crossing over her bust, which was covered completely by a black undergarment, and an orange sash that ended in a bright bow on her back.

Wakka and Lulu were currently walking along the beach with Yuna. It was a day before her pilgrimage was about to begin, and she was supposed to leave the next day to go to Kilika. The three were reminiscing over the times they had spent on their island home, when they noticed three figures appear on top of the ocean and start to walk towards them.

The three were male, though the one on the left (to them) seemed to be a bit androgynous. The one on the right was about 6'2" with an average build, had long, spiky, jet black hair that covered half his face, and was wearing some ancient looking red battle gear. He was currently conversing with the one in the middle, and he looked as if he had decades of battle experience, despite the fact that he seemed to be less than thirty years old. The man had an odd headband with a swirly symbol in the middle of it situated on his forehead. If Wakka's eyesight was correct, the man also had some funky looking eyes.

The one in the middle was quite… interesting. He had short, spiky black hair held up with a matching headband to the one on the right, though the plate on his was on the side of his head. He had a facemask made out of bandages, and had an ashen skin tone. He was about 6'4", had a slightly bulky build, and was wearing black cargo pants, a black shirt, and had an odd set of matching arm and legwarmers, both done in a black and white camouflage pattern. On his back was a large sword, looking more like a hunk of metal with a sharpened edge. This one seemed to be about twenty five.

The one on the left was the most… intriguing of the trio. He had waist-length white-silver hair that seemed to float behind him as he walked along the top of the water towards them, and his eyes were bi-colored. One was a softly glowing blue-green, the other a brightly glowing piercing gold. His lips were an odd dark blue color, and he had intricate tattoos spanning across his face. He was about 6'0", and had a lithe figure. He was wearing a black short sleeved shirt, as well as black cargo pants that ended just above the ankle, showing more tattoos across his arms and ankles. The man looked to be about twenty, though he carried himself with an unearthly grace and elegance that seemed to come with hundreds of years of experience and wisdom.

Finally they were able to catch part of the conversation that all three were engaged in, as the trio hadn't seemed to notice them yet. The one in red battle armor seemed exasperated, and clearly showed it in his tone of voice. He had a deep, smooth baritone, but it was currently dripping with exasperation as he addressed the one on the left.

"I told you that Forbidden Magic shouldn't be used to deal with cockroaches. I think one of them mutated."

The one on the left had a tone of mock-indignation in his voice, yet it seemed to be quite calm and soothing, though it had an odd quality where it seemed that he didn't use his voice as a normal means of communication.

"Cockroaches live through everything. I swear they'll outlive us, even. How was I supposed to know that you can't smash one with a magically created meteor?"

The one in the middle responded to this, shaking his head from side to side as he spoke in a rough baritone.

"I told you time and time again to not use magic against them. Next time, use a frying pan."

The one on the left huffed a little at this, as they finally touched down on the beach. None of them seemed to care that they had just broken the laws of physics by standing and walking on top of water, and the odd man turned towards the three shocked people.

"You are Yuna, correct?"

The brunette nodded a little at this, still a little shocked at the odd trio. The same odd man spoke up once more, his soothing voice carrying a hint of fondness in it.

"We three are here to guard you."

* * *

Author's Note: Done! Huzzah, huzzah. If you check my author page, you will see the two and a half plotbunnies currently trying to invade. The half is a second scenario for the second plotbunny to be created.


End file.
